DATE=10/23/98
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
NUMBER=2-240624
TITLE=JAPAN CULT (L-ONLY)
BYLINE=STEVE HERMAN
DATELINE=TOKYO
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:  

INTRO: ONE OF THE FORMER TOP MEMBERS OF THE AUM SUPREME TRUTH 
CULT, BLAMED FOR  THE DEADLY 1995 SARIN NERVE GAS ATTACK ON THE 
TOKYO SUBWAY SYSTEM,  HAS BEEN SENTENCED TO DEATH.  AS STEVE 
HERMAN REPORTS FROM TOKYO,  38-YEAR-OLD KAZUAKI OKAZAKI WAS 
CONVICTED OF OTHER MURDERS BLAMED ON THE CULT -- NOT THE GAS 
ATTACK. 

TEXT: THIS IS THE FIRST TIME THAT THE TOKYO DISTRICT COURT HAS 
HANDED DOWN  A CAPITAL PUNISHMENT SENTENCE IN CONNECTION WITH THE
AUM CULT'S ACTIVITIES.  

JUDGES REJECTED A PLEA FROM OKAZAKI'S LAWYERS FOR LENIENCY, 
SAYING  THAT HIS ACTIONS WERE ESPECIALLY BRUTAL.  

OKAZAKI AND FOUR OTHER CULT MEMBERS, ACCORDING TO POLICE, 
FOLLOWED  ORDERS OF AUM FOUNDER SHOKO ASAHARA AND STRANGLED A 
LAWYER, HIS WIFE  AND INFANT SON IN 1989.

THE ATTORNEY HAD BEEN HELPING FAMILIES WHOSE CHILDREN AND OTHER 
RELATIVES HAD JOINED THE CULT.  THE BODIES OF THE FAMILY OF 
LAWYER TSUTSUMI SAKAMOTO WERE FOUND  BURIED IN THE REMOTE 
MOUNTAINS OF CENTRAL JAPAN SIX YEARS LATER,  WHEN A FULL 
INVESTIGATION OF THE CULT WAS LAUNCHED AFTER THE TOKYO SUBWAY 
NERVE GAS ATTACKS.  

MR. OKAZAKI WAS ALSO CONDEMNED TO DEATH FOR HIS ROLE IN THE 
KILLING OF  A CULT MEMBER WHO TRIED TO LEAVE THE GROUP, ALSO IN 
1989.  THAT VICTIM, SHUJI TAGUCHI, WAS STRANGLED WITH A ROPE. 
OKAZAKI, WHO LEFT AUM SUPREME TRUTH THE YEAR AFTER THE MURDERS,  
AT FIRST DENIED ANY INVOLVEMENT IN THE KILLINGS, BUT LATER 
CONFESSED.  

LEGAL PROCEEDINGS INVOLVING THE GAS ATTACKS AND OTHER ALLEGED 
CRIMINAL ACTIVITIES BY THE ORGANIZATION, WHICH IS STILL IN 
OPERATION, ARE  EXPECTED TO DRAG ON FOR YEARS.  (SIGNED) 

NEB/SH/GC/FC/PLM



23-Oct-98 4:13 AM EDT (0813 UTC)
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Source: Voice of America
.