Ex-Aum cultist Makoto Hirata has 'no special feelings' about Shoko Asahara's execution
Makoto Hirata, a former Aum Shinrikyo executive, says he has “no special feelings” about the execution last month of Shoko Asahara, the founder of the now-defunct doomsday cult.
Top court rejects ex-Aum member's appeal against nine-year prison term
The Supreme Court has rejected an appeal by a former senior member of the Aum Shinrikyo cult, in a move that will finalize a nine-year prison sentence for his involvement in three criminal incidents. In a decision dated Wednesday, the top court's third petty bench ...
A former member of the Aum Shinrikyo cult is appealing a Tokyo High Court decision in early March to uphold his nine-year prison sentence, court officials said Wednesday. The appeal by Makoto Hirata, 49, who had been on the run for almost 17 years before ...
Court throws out ex-Aum member Hirata's appeal against nine-year prison term
The Tokyo High Court on Wednesday rejected an appeal filed by former Aum Shinrikyo fugitive Makoto Hirata against a nine-year prison sentence handed down by a lower court for his involvement in three crimes. Hirata, 49, was found guilty in March last year after being ...
Hirata trial highlights evolving court system
In the same courtroom where many of his fellow Aum Shinrikyo cult members were tried years before, Makoto Hirata was convicted and sentenced earlier this month. Location aside, the legal process has moved on in the intervening years, from the makeup of the bench to ...
Hirata gets nine years for role in Aum kidnapping of notary
Former Aum Shinrikyo fugitive Makoto Hirata is sentenced to nine years in prison for his role in the 1995 kidnapping and confinement of Tokyo notary Kiyoshi Kariya and two other crimes.
Hirata sentence based on lay judges' too harsh judgment: journalist
Friday's sentencing of former Aum Shinrikyo fugitive Makoto Hirata to nine years in prison was surprisingly harsh, possibly a result of amateurish anger felt by lay judges at the social injustice, a well-known expert said after the ruling. Shoko Egawa, a veteran freelance journalist who ...
Aum victim Kariya's son not seeking vengeance for death
He says he isn't seeking vengeance on those who tortured and killed his father. Nor does he intend to hate them forever. The only thing Minoru Kariya wants is the simple truth about how exactly his father, Kiyoshi, died nearly 20 years ago. That would ...
Notary's son confronts cultist in court, asks why Aum abducted him
Minoru Kariya, whose father was believed tortured to death by Aum Shinrikyo in 1995, asks ex-cult fugitive Makoto Hirata why his father had to die and whether the defendant is prepared to atone for the role he played in his death.
Aum cultist Hirata reiterates plea of ignorance
Aum Shinrikyo ex-fugitive Makoto Hirata repeated Monday that he had no prior knowledge about the cult's 1995 plans to kidnap and confine Tokyo notary Kiyoshi Kariya as he testified for the first time in his ongoing trial. Hirata, who turned himself in on New Year's ...
Hirata feared arrest in police chief shooting: girlfriend
Ex-Aum fugitive Makoto Hirata hid for 17 years because he feared being blamed for the 1995 shooting of the national police chief if he surrendered, his girlfriend testifies.
Cultist says Hirata unaware of bomb
A condemned Aum Shinrikyo member testifies in the Tokyo District Court that fellow cultist Makoto Hirata had no foreknowledge of the 1995 bombing of a professor’s condominium.
