JAPAN: FAMILY OF CULT GURU ON DEATH ROW FILES FOR RETRIAL

the family members of death-row inmate Chizuo Matsumoto, former head of the notorious AUM Shinrikyo religious cult, filed a petition for his retrial with the Tokyo District Court in Japan. Matsumoto, 53, also known as Shoko Asahara, was sentenced to death after being convicted of murder, among other charges, in a series of cases including the deadly sarin gas attacks on the Tokyo subway system in 1995. The request was filed by family members of Matsumoto, making him the second cultist on death row for whom a retrial has been requested. Matsumoto appealed the death sentence handed down by the Tokyo District Court in February 2004. However, the Tokyo High Court dismissed the appeal in March 2006 after the defense counsel failed to submit a reason for the appeal due to their inability to communicate with Matsumoto. The death sentence for Matsumoto was subsequently confirmed after the Supreme Court dismissed a special appeal filed by the defense counsel in September 2006.