The Tokyo District Court sentenced an Aum Shinrikyo figure to life imprisonment Wednesday for his part in four crimes, including a 1994 nerve-gas attack that killed seven people in Matsumoto, Nagano Prefecture.
Prosecutors had demanded the death penalty for Noboru Nakamura, 34, but presiding Judge Toshio Nagai opted to sentence him to life.
According to the court, Nakamura conspired with cult founder Shoko Asahara, 46, whose real name is Chizuo Matsumoto, and served as a lookout as other Aum members released the sarin on June 27, 1994, targeting a condominium complex where judges hearing an Aum property dispute resided.