Senior Aum Shinrikyo follower Yasuo Hayashi was sentenced to death Thursday for releasing nerve gas on a Tokyo subway train in March 1995 and for his role in the deadly June 1994 sarin attack in Matsumoto, Nagano Prefecture.
The Tokyo District Court found Hayashi, 42, a key member of the cult's science team, guilty of releasing the gas on a train on the Hibiya Line — one of the three lines that were attacked — and killing eight people. Twelve people were killed and more than 5,400 injured in the incident.
The court also said Hayashi took part in the cult's sarin attack in Matsumoto that killed seven and injured hundreds, and in the foiled May 1995 cyanide attack at Shinjuku Station in Tokyo.