A condemned Aum Shinrikyo member testified Wednesday in the Tokyo District Court that fellow cultist Makoto Hirata had no foreknowledge of the 1995 bombing of a professor's condominium.
Nicknamed by the tabloid media as "Mr. Killing Machine," Yasuo Hayashi played a major role in the 1995 sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway system, himself accounting for eight of the 13 fatalities.
Hayashi, whose death sentence was finalized in 2008, was the third death-row inmate to testify in Hirata's trial. Among other charges, Hirata is on trial for allegedly taking part in the Tokyo condo bombing.