OSAKA -- Three Aum Shinrikyo cult members have filed a damages lawsuit against the city of Suita, Osaka Prefecture, for rejecting their residency registration applications last month, Suita officials said Tuesday.
The three lodged the lawsuit with the Osaka District Court, demanding a total of 3 million yen in compensation and revocation of the city's decision on Oct. 25 to deny their applications for residency registration, city officials said.
According to the officials, Suita has so far prevented 11 Aum members from registering as residents.
Aum members have filed lawsuits twice against the Suita Municipal Government for similar reasons.
In June, the Osaka High Court turned down Suita's appeal of a lower court ruling in which it was told to compensate two Aum followers for rejecting their residency applications.
On Nov. 7, the Osaka District Court ruled in the second lawsuit that the city revoke its decision not to accept two followers' applications.
A number of local governments in Japan have refused to allow members of the cult, which is responsible for the 1995 sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway system that killed 12 and injured thousands, to register as residents.
Aum now calls itself Aleph.