The widow of a subway station worker killed in Aum Shinrikyo's sarin attacks on the Tokyo subway system in 1995 applied Thursday for benefits, as a law authorizing the government to compensate victims of the cult's crimes went into force the same day.
Shizue Takahashi, 61, made the application at the Metropolitan Police Agency, becoming the first person to do so under the law enacted earlier this year to provide benefits to the victims and relatives of those killed in eight crimes Aum committed.
Takahashi's husband, Kazumasa, 50, died from the nerve gas at Kasumigaseki Station after he removed the chemical from the floor of a subway car to protect passengers.
An estimated 6,600 people are eligible for such relief, police said. The benefit payments are divided into six categories depending on the suffering of the victims, ranging from ¥100,000 to ¥30 million.
The law, crafted by lawmakers from the Liberal Democratic Party-New Komeito ruling coalition, as well as the Democratic Party of Japan, the largest opposition party, paved the way for the government to pay the benefits because Aum is unable to pay compensation to the victims because it was declared bankrupt in 1996.
The crimes covered by the law include a 1994 sarin attack in Matsumoto, Nagano Prefecture, the 1989 murders of anti-Aum lawyer Tsutsumi Sakamoto and his family, and the attacks on the Tokyo subway system, in which 12 people were killed and more than 5,500 sickened.
The law says these crimes represent "heinous and grave acts of terrorism" and "providing relief to victims will demonstrate the nation's stance of fighting against terrorism."