The Tokyo High Court on Monday sentenced Masato Yokoyama, a former Aum Shinrikyo member, to death for murder and other charges tied to the 1995 sarin attack on the Tokyo subway system.

May 20, 2003

In handing Yokoyama the death sentence, the court upheld a previous lower court ruling.

Presiding Judge Kunio Harada denounced Yokoyama's actions as a "fanatic crime carried out upon orders (from Aum founder Shoko Asahara) based on a highly antisocial doctrine (of the cult)."

The sarin attack left 12 people dead and thousands injured.

Yokoyama, 39, is the second Aum Shinrikyo follower to receive the death sentence in a high court ruling. His defense team plans to appeal.

The court was told how Yokoyama, in conspiracy with Asahara, whose real name is Chizuo Matsumoto, released sarin gas on a Tokyo subway train on March 20, 1995.

He was also found guilty of involvement in the cult's illegal production of firearms.

Yokoyama's defense counsel had urged the court not to give his client the death penalty, claiming he was operating under mind control imposed by Asahara and that there were no fatalities on the subway line on which he had released the gas.

The defense team also claimed that Yokoyama felt sincere remorse.

A former engineer, Yokoyama is one of the five Aum members who released the deadly gas on the subway trains.

Of the other four, three have been handed death sentences in district court rulings and are appealing to the high court.

Only one of the five -- Ikuo Hayashi -- received a life imprisonment term.

Last month, prosecutors demanded the death penalty for Asahara, with the Tokyo District Court expected to hand down a ruling sometime early next year.