JAPAN. KEY MAN IN JAPANESE DOOMSDAY CULT APPEALS DEATH SENTENCE

Tomomasa Nakagawa, key member of the doomsday cult who allegedly prepared the nerve gas for the deadly attack on the Tokyo subway in 1995, began an appeal against his death sentence.
Nakagawa, 43, was ordered to hang on murder and other charges in 11 incidents including the subway assault and a separate sarin gas attack by the Aum Supreme Truth cult in 1994.
His appeal opened at Tokyo High Court. Thirteen former Aum members had been sentenced to death but none had as yet been hanged. Only one cult member, Kazuaki Okazaki, has so far lost his final appeal against execution. The defense lawyers said Nakagawa was not aware that the cult planned to release sarin in rush-hour Tokyo trains when he produced and packed the Nazi-invented gas.