Prosecutors demanded a four-year prison sentence Tuesday for Hisako Ishii, a core member of Aum Shinrikyo, for allegedly abetting the flight of three cult fugitives, forging accounting documents and conspiring to destroy the body of a cultist.
Ishii, 37, is on trial before the Tokyo District Court for her alleged role in cremating the body of Naoki Ochi, who was believed to have died in 1993 after he was hung upside down for over 90 minutes for punishment. The cause of death was unspecified.
Prosecutors said Ishii hid Ochi's death and oversaw the cremation in a microwave-type device because she feared that criticism from both inside and outside the cult about its dubious activities might prevent Aum from growing.