A condemned Aum Shinrikyo killer testified Monday against ex-fugitive cultist Makoto Hirata, contradicting the defendant's claim that he was not aware before the fact that he was going to help in the 1995 abduction and confinement of a Tokyo notary.
Death-row inmate Yoshihiro Inoue, who was once the intelligence chief of Aum Shinrikyo, appeared at the Tokyo District Court under extremely tight security, becoming the second condemned cultist summoned to testify publicly under the lay judge system. The first, Tomomasa Nakagawa, testified last month.
Inoue was convicted for his role in 10 crimes orchestrated by the cult, including the 1995 sarin attack on the Tokyo subway system that resulted in 13 deaths and thousands of injuries. His death sentence was finalized in 2010.