The execution this week of the six remaining Aum Shinrikyo members on death row — along with the hanging of seven cultists including Aum founder and guru Shoko Asahara earlier this month — marks one ending to criminal justice proceedings over the series of deadly crimes committed by the cult's members. However, that should not prompt us to let the memory of Aum and its horrific crimes, including the 1995 sarin gassing on Tokyo's subways that killed 13 people and left thousands more injured, fade away.
Twenty-three years after the police crackdown on the cult and the arrest of its members, many of the surviving victims still suffer from the aftershock of its crimes. Financial compensation to thousands of the victims by the cult's successor group remains stalled. The wife of one of the victims of the subway attack said that despite the execution of the Aum members on death row, the damage from their crimes lingers on.
While many facts about Aum's criminal acts came to light in the marathon trials that finally concluded this year, mysteries remain as to why so many young people — particularly those with highly educated backgrounds, like some of the former cultists sent to the gallows Thursday — were drawn to the teachings of Asahara, who launched Aum's predecessor in 1984 as a small yoga circle, and eventually came to commit the deadly crimes in the name of religion. Today, Aum's successor groups, including ones that are said to retain their allegiance to the executed guru, reportedly draw about 100 new members a year, apparently including those with little knowledge about Aum's crimes. There are questions that still need to be addressed to prevent similar crimes in the future.