OSAKA -- The trial of Aum Shinrikyo leader Shoko Asahara effectively concludes when his lawyers present their closing arguments before the Tokyo District Court on Thursday and Friday.
Asahara, whose real name is Chizuo Matsumoto, stands accused of masterminding the sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway system in March 1995 as well as a series of other heinous crimes, including a deadly gas attack a year earlier in Nagano Prefecture.
Although it is widely expected that Asahara will be sentenced to death, those familiar with the cult are divided on how much influence he still has over Aum, which now calls itself Aleph, and what the rise and fall of the cult meant for Japanese society.