A former member of the Aum Supreme Truth cult, who spent 17 years on the run after the 1995 nerve gas attack on Tokyo, was sentenced Monday to five years in prison over a separate crime.
The Tokyo District Court handed the sentence to Naoko Kikuchi, 42, for her role in a parcel bombing at the Tokyo metropolitan government in 1995 which seriously injured one official.
Prosecutors had sought a 7-year jail sentence.
Kikuchi, who was arrested in 2012 after 17 years on the run, was charged with attempted murder over her involvement in a parcel bomb sent to the Tokyo governor's office in 1995. She pleaded not guilty.
Kikuchi was initially arrested for her alleged involvement in the 1995 Tokyo subway sarin gas attack. She confessed to being involved in production of the sarin gas, but professed not to know what it was at the time. Prosecutors did not indict her on that charge.
She was questioned further about her involvement in a parcel bomb that was sent to the office of then Tokyo Gov Yukio Aoshima. It exploded, seriously injuring one employee in the governor's office.
Kikuchi was accused of helping to acquire the raw materials for the bomb and then bringing the bomb to an Aum hideout in Tokyo before it was then mailed to the governor's office.
However, she told the court that she did not know the materials could be used to make a bomb, NTV reported.
A panel of three professional and six lay judges handed down the verdict.
© Japan Today/AFP
10 Comments
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timtak
Would justice have been served more effectively if Ms. Kikuchi had spent more time in the interrogation room?
isoducky
17 years on the run and gets 7 years in jail.....Japan, kind of sent the message that she has been punishing herself and the 17 years in hiding is time served. I would argue had she turned herself in immediately following the incident her sentence would have been more severe.
Paul Vulaj
Life in prison would have been justice. She knew exactly how deadly sarin gas is or she would not have eagerly helped to make it.
JoeBigs
This woman should serve a whole lot more time for her crime than.
rickyvee
i don't get why they didn't charge her for the subway attack. in that crime, and in the parcel bombing, she claimed to have no knowledge of what was really going on around her. so playing the forrest gump card worked for one case but not the other?
Mirai Hayashi
What a stupid sentence.. She ran for 17 years, and only gets five?
Simona Stanzani
outrageous to say the least. can't help thinking these people have some serious guardian spirits in the govt or the courts, or maybe even more likely Japanese law is a joke.
kaimycahl
Wow she gets to go on vacation for 5 years while she imprisoned herself for 17!!! I'd take that!!!
JeffLee
Extremely lenient sentence. Something suspicious about it.