crime

Aum cult founder Asahara, 6 followers hanged

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Bet the others will be gone shortly

13 ( +13 / -0 )

His number came up finally. What about his fellas!

11 ( +11 / -0 )

He is a very good case for capital punishment, but I think they should instead be made to pay back their debt to society by performing menial tasks in custody until the day they die.

10 ( +17 / -7 )

Well, what can you say, law of the land and they brought it upon themselves.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Hope you enjoyed your final trip man. Went down knowing you were a narcissistic manipulating snake oil selling fraud that left a legacy of confusion, panic and death. Turning your devoted and loving followers into blind murderers was particularly abhorent. One for the dustbin of history.

14 ( +15 / -1 )

About time. Good riddance.

10 ( +13 / -3 )

I have never killed a man, but I have read many obituaries with great pleasure. Clarence Darrow

Yep. Good riddance. Waste not one more yen on this repugnant homo sapien.

6 ( +10 / -4 )

Too bad they can't make a special exception, and use the gas chamber for this lot.

5 ( +11 / -6 )

Ugh. I hope the 6th of July doesn't become some sort of holy day for his remaining followers.

I rode the subways that morning. Went slowly through the deserted Kasumigaseki station without stopping - as there was a "suspected gas leak". Got off at the next stop and then all the lines were stopped for the rest of the day as the confusion turned to terror.

I don't believe in the death penalty.

Days like this though, I admit, test my beliefs.

12 ( +14 / -2 )

I'm opposed to the death penalty but I won't have a second thought about this scum.

5 ( +9 / -4 )

zichiToday 09:11 am JST

The end of an evil leader and no doubt the others will also be hung soon. I remain opposed to capital punishment.

I approve of capital punishment based on the nature of the crime.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

I asked a Japanese lawyer if it scared him when he had to meet with the Yakuza regarding legal matters. He told me the following, "No, the Yakuza don't scare me, but the cult groups do." Why's that? "Because the cults and their members have no fear of legal consequences or punishment, whereas, the Yakuza do." He went on to tell me that he had had an experience involving his office and himself being watched by a member of a cult group which he was on the opposing side of in a court case. I had the sense that what he was basically saying was that when you're dealing with the cult groups, they really don't believe laws applies to them because they view themselves as being the God's chosen ones.

17 ( +17 / -0 )

Capital punishment is ineffective for anything beyond retribution; it is not a deterrent.

6 ( +17 / -11 )

About time. Good riddance.

5 ( +8 / -3 )

It appears as if a lot of people disagree with facts. That's too funny!

2 ( +5 / -3 )

anyone reading JT/Tokyo Classified for 20 years will find closure

5 ( +6 / -1 )

Good riddance!

1 ( +2 / -1 )

The horror of the acts committed by Asahara deserves the death penalty and hanging is fitting as it is very real and hopefully frightening.

We were all glued to the news for months and were relieved when he was caught. We were also disgusted at his cowardness by hiding in a crawl space to evade his captors.

Good riddance and enjoy hell.

3 ( +10 / -7 )

Finally !! I hope this brings closure for the victims and their families

2 ( +6 / -4 )

SnickersToday  10:10 am JST

Finally !! I hope this brings closure for the victims and their families

Why would it? Their loved ones are still dead. Killing the killer doesn't change that.

The attack happened in 1995. 23 years ago. You very likely have new hires wherever you work who are too young to have witnessed this attack. In Japan kids travel the subways alone young, so let's say a 10 year old was traumatized by the attack - maybe they saw people suffering from it as their commute took them near victims, maybe they lost a parent (at an age old enough to keep conscious memory of that parent as they get older). Now they are 33 years old. They have grown up in the shadow of this attack and are strolling gently towards middle age. If they still don't have closure this long afterwards, there is no rational reason to think killing this guy would grant it.

Killing people is not a magic button that solves any of life's problems.

3 ( +12 / -9 )

That was an awfully terrifying commute to work that day, arriving at work, was the most intensely scary experience. Police everywhere. I’d ridden the Chiyoda Line part of the way. Good grief, the horror men sow.

8 ( +8 / -0 )

This is long overdue. There is a special place in hell for people of this ilk.

5 ( +8 / -3 )

Ah, great news! It's always nice to see vermin removed from society. Well done.

1 ( +7 / -6 )

That trap door will need an oil.

0 ( +4 / -4 )

zichiToday 10:30 am JST

OssanAmerica

I approve of capital punishment based on the nature of the crime.

Then you support the decision of the courts which also give the death penalty based on the nature of the crime. You support the death penalty even if you claim its selective while I remain opposed as I would have been in the case of the 9/11 terrorist had they survived their attacks.

I am selective. My personal opinion may or may not coincide with any court's ruling. Certain crimes I feel warrant the death penalty. I consider most if not all acts of terrorism which result in multiple deaths to warrant the death penalty. But that's just my opinion.

2 ( +9 / -7 )

Wow they finally went through with it. I thought they were afraid of revenge attacks from his followers?

With the upcoming Olympics I wonder if they should've waited until after the events, just in case.

-2 ( +2 / -4 )

About time! They did not deserve to live so long.

I just wish the MSM they morning (and probably again tonight and this weekend) hadn't made such a big fuss over these executions. Might encourage other losers to follow in their footsteps.

-4 ( +2 / -6 )

well, well, well... this is one hell of of batch

3 ( +4 / -1 )

@JT, that’s an odd photo to lead this news with, showing a mass murderer in a serene state of what looks like peaceful contemplation. He brought nothing but death, fear and destruction.

12 ( +13 / -1 )

I checked the newspaper the history of Chizuo Matsumoto was an excellent/eloquent sales-person who was intelligent enough to transform himself to "charismatic" cult group leader. He studied a lot to organize this cult group from Hindu Yoga to all other religions kind of perfectionism to mind-control elite people in Japan. All those believers of his cult group Aum Shinrikyo worship him as "all-mighty-god". He was sentenced to death and executed today according to the Abe government convenience found the limit of many reasons. I hope he will not be idolatrated to those remained believers/followers like Aleph won't make social troubles to face that terrorism again. Besides that Nazism of Hitler and Isis caliphate "ism" cult groups is still existing in the world.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

The death penalty is always wrong and never helps. They should have just been left in jail and forgotten about.

-1 ( +10 / -11 )

“But here I should imagine the most terrible part of the whole punishment is, not the bodily pain at all—but the certain knowledge that in an hour, then in ten minutes, then in half a minute, then now—this very instant—your soul must quit your body and that you will no longer be a man—and that this is certain, certain!” 

― Fyodor DostoyevskyThe Idiot

None of his victims had a countdown. They did not have that luxury. For a second focusing on the June 1994 sarin gas attacks alone in Matsumoto, Nagano Prefecture, which killed eight people and injured more than 100.

Sarin-Horrible and agonizing death, Like some other nerve agents that affect the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, Sarin attacks the nervous system by interfering with the degradation of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine at neuromuscular junctions. Death will usually occur as a result of asphyxia due to the inability to control the muscles involved in breathing.

Sorta like hanging is it? Good riddance to you Asahara and your followers put down on this day or any other is a good day! The punishment fits well for the crime.

What bliss will fill the ransomed souls, 

When they in glory dwell, 

To see the sinner as he rolls,

In quenchless flames of hell.

St. Anthony Mary Claret

3 ( +7 / -4 )

@stormcrow yes and that mentality is also why killing the leaders turns them into martyr figures in the minds of loyal followers. His crimes and (apparently) utter lack of remorse got him capital punishment, but it might have been better to just let him rot out a life sentence, and deny the followers a dramatic martyr story.

2 ( +5 / -3 )

23 more years to literally FEED off of the Tax Payers that his victims didn't get.

It's ABOUT time.  "Hang 'em HIGH".

0 ( +5 / -5 )

@WA4TKG

Who is celebrating? I am not.

My thoughts are with the victims and the families who have been injured or scared for life by this barbarous monster who slaughtered innocents in the name of religion.

I can NOT speak for anyone else here.

Reckless-said it best!

This is why you have order in Japan.

-6 ( +1 / -7 )

???? Don't know what you're goin' on about there Slick.

I also rode Chioda Line to and from work every day when this happened. Without watching tv (didn't have one) or hear anything about the attack, I knew SOMETHING happened there when the train didn't stop and there was a guy hosing down the platform in a MOPP Suit.  "Order in Japan"...works for ME.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

This took too long. Cold blooded murderers should face justice within a decade.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

@ WA4TKG

There was a comment about the celebrating of capital punishment being handed down to Asahara by someone. Since, the comment was removed. I may have tagged you on it by mistake. My apologies.

 I also rode Chioda Line to and from work every day when this happened. Without watching tv (didn't have one) or hear anything about the attack, I knew SOMETHING happened there when the train didn't stop and there was a guy hosing down the platform in a MOPP Suit. "Order in Japan"...works for ME.

Not knowing must have been terrifying for you and then even more terrifying for you once you learned what actually happened. Once again my apologies.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

@zichi

The highest number of death row inmates executed in a single day and if the remaining seven are also executed the numbers for 2018 will be the highest ever.- In the world? Or in Japan are we talking about?

The majority of world countries, and 18 America states have abolished the death sentence. My own country the UK abolished it in the 1965. Actually it is 19 states. Most Democratic and or a Commonwealth State including mine.

Many in your country want to have capital punishment put back on the books. Not everyone in Parliament is an abolitionist. Do not be surprised if one day the great U.K. brings it back. Not to be sarcastic by any means when I say great either. I love the U.K.

-5 ( +0 / -5 )

His followers manufactured the Sarin in a factory in the sticks near where I live. Apparently the neighbours used to see staff staggering out of the factory or vomiting nearby. None of them called the authorities. When the attacks went down and the horror of who their neighbours were became apparent, they felt immense shame and regret. They tried several things to change the image of the village, but the stigma couldn't be shifted and the area depopulated quickly. A few years later the village merged with a larger town and changed its name. All traces of the cult were bulldozed and returned to farmland. A truly sad tale.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

"We have to say that the motivation and purpose of the crimes were too outrageous and ridiculous, as he tried to control Japan in the name of salvation." About as ridiculous as the entire Japanese legal system.

-3 ( +1 / -4 )

It's always nice to see vermin removed from society.

These vermin had already been removed from society. Locked up in their (hopefully) dim, dingy and drab little cells they posed no threat to anyone and should have spent the rest of their contemptible natural lives contemplating what they had done.

Public servants, from the Minister for Justice right down to the poor sod who has to clean up afterwards, should not be turned into killers on the public yen. Not in my name.

Just let the vermin rot in jail.

That said - good riddance.

I only wish they could have been natural deaths, not state-sanctioned murders.

4 ( +8 / -4 )

[W]hen you're dealing with the cult groups, they really don't believe laws applies to them because they view themselves as being the God's chosen ones.

That's very true. They obey different laws which they believe are above earthly laws or human conscience. That allows them (ordinary "good" people) to be able to do even murders in the name of divine justice. Unfortunately it applies not only to small cult groups but also to some major religions.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

I’m not in favor of capital punishment either. Death is a release from punishment. Being locked in a cell for the rest of your life is a punishment. By killing Asahara and his followers they have only made them martyrs for the other whackos that follow this cult.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

Would have been poetic justice if they had gassed him.....

2 ( +4 / -2 )

Good riddance. A complete waste of taxpayer's money while there are many who are just trying to get by on part-time work and basic shelter, for openers.

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

I am in no way opposed to the death penalty. It is a punishment, rarely given, but metted out as due justice for horrific crimes. It is not implemented as a deterrent to others committing a crime of serious magnitude just as a prison sentence is not given so others don’t follow suit. Simply put they are punishments given for wrongs committed against persons or society. Payback and retribution are completely different issues.

I’m glad Asahara is gone he got his due punishment. I seriously hope he felt fear as the noose was slipped over his neck.

-4 ( +0 / -4 )

Hardly a surprise that Macho Man (joke), Abe, would be the one to show the world his cojones and give the cult leaders the drop despite the fact that his own grandfather cheated (undeservedly) the hangman's noose. I'm against capital punishment except for members of governments (like Kishi) responsible for mass-murder and the suffering of millions, but since ALL "justice" on our planet is political, it is no surprise that powerful people get away with murder as do their henchmen and underlings who do their bidding. The execution of the Aum cultists was thus carefully calculated and calibrated (these pols are sooo transparent!). Lady Minister Kamikawa Yoko was also in place ( no coincidence) to add a soft, feminine touch to proceedings formally apprising the public of the executions carried out in secret. All in all, the mass executions were good PR for Shinzo's "strong leadership" cred ( for the gullible who fall for it). Abe finally played the political ace kept for so long up his sleeve, but what about the timing of this necktie party? What lies behind it? One fine day the truth will out.

-2 ( +2 / -4 )

The Public Security Intelligence Agency 

What the hell is that?

0 ( +0 / -0 )

So was he hung wearing a nappy ?

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

baillady - I am in no way opposed to the death penalty. It is a punishment, rarely given, but metted out as due justice for horrific crimes. 

This is exactly why I’m against capital punishment. Notice the word ‘justice’ used in the above Pro-capital punishment statement. What’s another word for justice? It’s, revenge! People kill those who kill. Obviously, so-called ‘modern society’ has not progressed from the medieval ‘eye for an eye’ mentality.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

What hustle said. Society says do not kill, then shows it means it by killing.

I mean, I could tell my daughter not to shoot heroin while there's a needle stuck in my arm but....

2 ( +4 / -2 )

I still do not condone capital punishment.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

Yeah, I can't support capital punishment either. Most of the psychos on death row in Japan have admitted to carrying out their crimes in order to get the death penalty. This means that, the death penalty does not deter violent crime, it actually encourages it!

-1 ( +3 / -4 )

The end of an evil leader and no doubt the others will also be hung soon. I remain opposed to capital punishment.

I usually don’t agree with you, but if anyone is more deserving, it was this guy and his idiotic followers. Good that he’s gone. Maybe now many of the families scared by this can find some sort of relief.

-2 ( +2 / -4 )

I still do not condone capital punishment.

I do not condone gassing innocent people riding the subway, he was lucky to get medical treatment and meals he is lower than a dog.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

I do not think the death penalty is appropriate unless sought out by the convicted and approved follwing a mental review. The state already has too much power and one can not reverse and compensate death.

Yet, lex dura sed lex.

Asahara operated in a system with consequences. His actions resulted in death and, according to local law, death he received. Under the circumstances, he should have been executed sooner. But there you are.

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

Capital punishment is ineffective for anything beyond retribution; it is not a deterrent.

This is retribution.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

some people's existence on this earth is simply worthless. he is one, now fortunately gone

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

Do the hustle: "By killing Asahara and his followers they have only made them martyrs for the other whackos that follow this cult."

No, they have saved the taxpayers who knows how many more years of feeding and housing and otherwise providing for this evil man. Should have been done back in 1995 after his arrest, and certainly after his conviction in 2004 which took an agonizing 9 years.

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

Do the hustle: "By killing Asahara and his followers they have only made them martyrs for the other whackos that follow this cult."

Shoko Asahara is a god to the Aum people and as such can never 'die'. That's where the problem is. It's not that he didn't deserve to be executed for his crimes, but what will his cult followers do now? Revenge? They might strike and kill again over this, especially since justice means nothing to these people. Executing this creep could lead to serious repercussions.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Regarding the suggestion for paying back their debts by performing menial tasks for society, I think that would be pretty difficult considering that he was "refusing to use a toilet in the cell, he always wore a diaper and was seen sometimes with rough skin" etc. Was there such a practice at all, most likely convicts would find clever ways like that to evade.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Asahara finally was excution today. He caused a lot of problems. The sarin gas attack is the largest terrorist attack in Japan. My mother told me if she hade taken the train a little earlier, she might have been effected by the accident. It affected many people in Japan. If victims were not there, their lives would be different. When I heared about his daughter’s problems on TV, I thought that he disturbed lot of people even his family.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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