A senior Aum Shinrikyo follower testified March 26 that he had hoped police would launch a full-scale investigation into the cult after the 1994 sarin attack in Matsumoto, Nagano Prefecture, because he believed a probe would have kept the cult from committing further crimes.

Testifying for the prosecution in the trial of Aum founder Shoko Asahara, Yasuo Hayashi, 40, who is also on trial for his alleged role in the 1995 Tokyo subway nerve gas attack, the June 1994 sarin attack in Matsumoto and the foiled cyanide gas attack at Tokyo's Shinjuku Station in May 1995, said he was unable to rebel against the cult.

Asahara, who has been charged in connection with 17 cases, stands accused of conspiring with other senior Aum members to release sarin on the subway system in an alleged attempt to disturb an anticipated full-scale police investigation into the cult. He also stands accused of masterminding the 1994 gas attack, as well as other heinous crimes.