The Tokyo District Court sentenced former Aum Shinrikyo member Akemi Saito to 14 months in prison Tuesday for harboring fugitive cultist Makoto Hirata for more than 14 years.
Presiding Judge Noriaki Yoshimura ruled that it was because of Saito's support that Hirata was able to avoid arrest for his alleged involvement in a 1995 kidnap-murder and a staged firebombing of the cult's Tokyo headquarters.
Hirata turned himself in to police in late December.