Aum Guru “Right” to Be Executed: Victim Family

July 8, 2018

Tokyo- The execution of Chizuo Matsumoto, guru of the doomsday cult Aum Shinrikyo, which committed a series of heinous crimes, including the 1995 sarin nerve gas attack on Tokyo's subway system, was "right," a bereaved family member said Friday.

"I think it was right for Asahara to be executed," Shizue Takahashi, 71, said at a press conference in Tokyo, referring to the Aum founder by his pseudonym of Shoko Asahara. Matsumoto, along with six former senior officials of the cult, were executed the same day.

Takahashi lost her husband, Kazumasa, then a 50-year-old subway worker, in the 1995 sarin attack.

"I have no tears to shed as I've waited for 23 years," she said.

"The time has come, that's all," she added in a detached tone with a tired look on her face.

Takahashi said that she found out that Matsumoto was executed from news stories. She said that she was tense to the point that she forgot she was feeling unwell.

"He (Matsumoto) lured in many young people and killed ordinary people in an attempt to take over Japan," Takahashi said.

"It stands to reason that Asahara, who masterminded all the crimes (by Aum members), has been executed," she insisted.

Takahashi was informed by the Justice Ministry of the executions of the six former Aum members.

She said that she wanted them to provide more information on the crimes to prevent a future terrorist attack.

"I have regrets (over their executions)," she added.

"Rather than feeling that it was a long or short time, I felt that it took 23 years," she said on the executions 23 years after the group committed its indiscriminate attack in central Tokyo that left 13 dead and over 5,800 others injured.

"I feel frustrated as a third of my life has been affected by Aum," Takahashi added, holding back tears.

She said she will continue to call on the ministry to allow bereaved family members to witness the executions of the remaining former members of the cult on death row.

Meanwhile, Masaaki Utsumi, 67, who was seriously wounded in Aum's 1995 parcel bomb attack on the Tokyo metropolitan government, said that the suffering and sorrow of the victims will not be erased simply because of the executions.

Utsumi, who was a metropolitan government employee at the time, lost all the fingers of his left hand, as well as the thumb of his right hand.

He noted that the execution "must never" be used as an excuse for people to worship Matsumoto as a hero. He said he is concerned that successor groups of Aum may deify the Aum founder.

"I hope society will never see similar crimes," Utsumi said.

Yuji Nakamura, who joined Takahashi at the press conference, said that the 1989 murder of the family of fellow attorney Tsutsumi Sakamoto was "an unprecedented crime by a destructive religious organization."

Sakamoto, his wife and his one-year-old son were killed at home by Aum members. Their bodies were found six years later.

While saying that it was "only fitting" that Matsumoto was executed, Nakamura said that Sakamoto, who was liberal, may have called for the death penalty to be abolished.

"I'd like to talk (to Sakamoto) at his grave about what justice is and what human life is," he added.

Minoru Kariya, the son of Kiyoshi Kariya, a Tokyo notary public who was abducted and killed by Aum cultists in 1995, expressed gratitude to the justice minister for her decision to execute Matsumoto and the other former senior members of the cult.

"It may sound odd, but I'm thankful," Kariya, 58, said in Narita, Chiba Prefecture, east of Tokyo.

Aum members kidnapped Kiyoshi Kariya, then 68, in an attempt to discover the whereabouts of the notary's younger sister, an Aum member.

"It's appropriate for the leader of a group that committed heinous crimes to pay for the crimes with death," Minoru Kariya said. "It's a little frustrating that there is no punishment heavier than the death penalty."

Hiroyuki Nagaoka, an 80-year-old survivor of a VX gas attack by Aum, cautioned against ending the story with the executions.

"I want people to think again why the crimes took place," he said.

"It (Aum) was certified as a religious group and went unchecked. It's truly regrettable," added Nagaoka, who had pointed to the dangers of Aum long before the crimes took place. Jiji Press