While the trial of Aum Shinrikyo founder Shoko Asahara continues at a snail's pace more than five years after his arrest in 1995, a series of court rulings handed down this year has drawn a clear line between who among the cult's senior figures will live and who will die.
Three senior cultists accused of releasing sarin gas on the Tokyo subway system on March 20, 1995, were sentenced to death by the Tokyo District Court. Twelve people were killed and more than 5,500 were injured in the incident.
With the rulings handed down on Yasuo Hayashi, Toru Toyoda and Kenichi Hirose in June and July, four of the five cultists accused of releasing the deadly nerve gas have now been sentenced to hang. The fourth member, Masato Yokoyama, was sentenced last October.