JCP Ichida comments on judgment on AUM leader Matsumoto

Former cult guru Matsumoto Chizuo (alias Asahara Shoko) was sentenced to death on February 27 at the Tokyo District Court for a sarin gas attack on Tokyo subway trains and other organized crimes that took many lives.

Matsumoto was found guilty of 13 charges. AUM cult members' crimes include the murder of attorney at law Sakamoto Tsutsumi, his wife, and son in 1989 and the sarin gas attack in Matsumoto, Nagano Prefecture in 1994. A total of 27 people, including 12 in the 1995 sarin gas attack on Tokyo subway trains, were killed.

In a published statement on the same day, Japanese Communist Party Secretariat Head Ichida Tadayoshi said, "The murders and terror attacks by Matsumoto and other suspects deserve the harshest sentence in that they trampled on human lives and dignity and caused serious social unrest."

"The JCP has clearly denounced the crimes committed by the AUM Shinrikyo in the name of 'religion'. We have pointed out that the investigation was too slow and demanded speedy investigation and strict control. Considering that victims who are still suffering from the after-effects of the sarin poisoning are not receiving sufficient medical treatment or compensation, the JCP demands that the government take appropriate steps to meet their needs," he added. (end)