Fifteen years after the sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway system by AUM Shinrikyo cult members, the effects of the crime continue to be felt. The March 20, 1995, attack killed 13 people. It was recently confirmed that at least 6,252 people suffered injuries, a number that may increase as the victim-certification process proceeds. Survivors of the subway attack suffer from physical and psychological maladies including limb paralysis, visual impairment, speech impediments and posttraumatic stress disorder.
AUM Shinrikyo is responsible for a series of crimes that includes the Nov. 4, 1989, murder of a Yokohama lawyer and his family, the June 27, 1994, spread of sarin gas in Matsumoto, Nagano Prefecture, which killed eight people and injured some 600 others, and the Tokyo subway sarin gas attack. The involvement of AUM Shinrikyo members in the March 30, 1995 shooting attack on Mr. Takaji Kunimatsu, then the National Police Agency chief, is also suspected.
A total of 189 people have been indicted in connection with AUM Shinrikyo crimes. Ten, including AUM Shinrikyo founder Shoko Asahara, were sentenced to death (seven of them in connection with the Tokyo subway attack) and five others were given life sentences. Three wanted AUM followers remain at large. The statute of limitations for the attack on Mr. Kunimatsu will expire at the end of this month.