The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a high court ruling sentencing former Aum Shinrikyo cultist Yoshihiro Inoue to death for his role in the deadly nerve gas attack on the Tokyo subway system in 1995.
Justice Seishi Kanetsuki, presiding judge on the First Petty Bench, turned down the 39-year-old Inoue's appeal against the decision, which overturned a life sentence and gave him the death penalty.
Inoue can still file an objection against the top court's decision. But an objection will be limited to technicalities, such as an error in wording. Because the highest court rarely accepts such objections, Thursday's decision is expected to eventually become the final one.
If so, that would bring the number of Aum cultists on death row to nine. Among them is Aum founder Shoko Asahara, 54, whose real name is Chizuo Matsumoto.
Of the nine on death row, only Inoue initially received a life sentence. The cases of four other Aum cultists who were sentenced to death at the district court level are pending at the Supreme Court.
Inoue was charged in 10 criminal cases.