A former Aum Shinrikyo follower sentenced to death in October 1998 told an appeals court Thursday that he deserved leniency because his confessions led to the breakthrough in the investigation of the 1989 disappearance of a Yokohama lawyer and his family.
Kazuaki Okazaki, 39, was sentenced to hang for his role in the 1989 slaying of anti-Aum lawyer Tsutsumi Sakamoto, 33, the attorney's wife, Satoko, 29, and their 1-year-old son, Tatsuhiko, as well as the lynching of a fellow cultist the same year.
At the first hearing of his appeal before the Tokyo High Court, Okazaki's counsel claimed that at the time the crimes were committed, the defendant had been under the mind control of cult leader Shoko Asahara.