Friday is verdict day in the eight-year trial of Aum Shinrikyo founder Shoko Asahara, who if the state has its way will hang for masterminding or ordering 13 heinous crimes that resulted in 27 slayings at the hands of his disciples.
The Tokyo District Court has sentenced 11 cultists to death for the killings, ruling they were all masterminded by the guru, including two sarin attacks that together claimed 19 lives and injured thousands.
The judges all concluded the cultists acted on orders from Asahara, 48, whose real name is Chizuo Matsumoto. But his lawyers portrayed the nearly blind, babbling guru as not being a party to crimes they claim were carried out by those of his flock who misunderstood his teachings, which were based on a medley of Eastern religions.