Executed Ex-Aum Member Was Thankful for Being Kept Alive

July 27, 2018

Tokyo, July 27 (Jiji Press)--Yasuo Hayashi, a former senior Aum Shinrikyo doomsday cult member executed Thursday, told his lawyer two weeks ago that he was thankful for being kept alive, the attorney has said.

One of the Aum members who released sarin toxic gas in the March 1995 Tokyo subway attack, Hayashi, 60, maintained feelings of remorse toward the victims of the deadly terrorist assault and their bereaved families, said the lawyer, Hideyasu Yoshida.

After Aum guru Shoko Asahara, whose real name was Chizuo Matsumoto, and six other members of the cult on death row were hanged on July 6, Hayashi sent a letter to Yoshida from the Sendai Detention House in Miyagi Prefecture, northeastern Japan, where he had been held.

Hayashi seemed to have been prepared to be executed the following week, saying in the letter, mailed on July 8, a Sunday, "I'm afraid I will be no longer alive around the time when this letter is delivered to you," according to the lawyer.

The lawyer and Hayashi had their last meeting at the detention center on July 13. Hayashi appeared smiling at an interview room at the facility, after taking a bath.

Hayashi still had feelings of remorse toward the victims of the subway attack and their relatives, the lawyer recalled, while quoting him as saying at the meeting, "I'm thankful for being kept alive."

On Thursday, the Justice Ministry executed all six remaining death-row inmates from the cult, including Hayashi, who was hanged at Sendai Detention House, over the subway and other fatal attacks by the cult.

The Tokyo subway attack killed 13 people and injured more than 6,000 others.

Hayashi's execution came ahead of a planned court ruling, in September, on a lawsuit he and Yoshida filed against the government over detention house staff members' presence at their meetings in violation of a Tokyo District Court in favor of their claim against this.

Furious, Yoshida said that the government had executed Hayashi without guaranteeing his rights.

In the subway attack, Hayashi released sarin from three packs, compared with two packs spread by each of the other Aum members responsible for the assault, killing eight of the 13 victims as a result.

Yoshida said: "Hayashi took one extra sarin pack because he thought the others would not be willing to do so. He was a gentle person from before he joined the cult." His execution was "very regrettable," the lawyer added. Jiji Press