The Tokyo High Court on Thursday upheld a 12-year prison term handed down to an Aum Shinrikyo defendant for attempting to kill attorney Taro Takimoto with sarin gas in May 1994.
Yoshinobu Aoyama, 41, a former cult lawyer, was found guilty by the Tokyo District Court in 2000 of attempted murder and eight other charges, including slandering a company president, harboring an Aum fugitive and submitting false documents to local authorities.
In supporting the lower court ruling, the high court agreed that Aoyama played an indispensable role in the attempt on Takimoto's life. Aoyama issued orders to other cult members to kill Takimoto at the scene and provided important details, including the victim's schedule. The court also said he knew about the deadly nature of sarin.