A senior Aum Shinrikyo follower on April 24 expressed resentment toward cult founder Shoko Asahara for appointing him, along with others, to release deadly nerve gas in the Tokyo subway system in March 1995.
"Asahara often intentionally gave painful duties to members who were negative (toward the cult). And I know he did not value me positively," said Yasuo Hayashi, 40, formerly with the cult's so-called science and technology ministry, during Asahara's trial before the Tokyo District Court.
But later, he confessed: "I cannot make any excuses because I believed in the dirty (teaching), which was based on ignorance."