Judicial proceedings for Aum Shinrikyo figures effectively came to an end Monday as Seiichi Endo became the 13th member of the doomsday cult to have his death sentence finalized by the Supreme Court.
But while Aum's criminal masterminds await the hangman's noose on death row, splinter groups remain active and are showing signs of loyalty to guru Shoko Asahara.
"Aleph is operating under Aum's old teachings. They are taking a defiant attitude," Kazuyuki Furuma, a resident of Setagaya Ward, Tokyo, told The Japan Times on Monday. Furuma heads a group that wants Aum-related groups ousted from the ward.