The Tokyo High Court upheld a death sentence imposed...

The Tokyo High Court upheld a death sentence imposed on former senior AUM Shinrikyo member Kiyohide Hayakawa for crimes including the murders of a lawyer and his family and of an AUM member who wanted to leave the cult.
Hayakawa, 54, pleaded guilty in all seven cases in which he was charged, which also included building a plant in Yamanashi Prefecture to mass-produce the nerve gas sarin used in the 1995 fatal attack on the Tokyo subway system.
In handing down his decision on the appeal, Presiding Judge Taketaka Nakagawa dismissed Hayakawa's claim that he was brainwashed by the sect's founder, Shoko Asahara, to commit the crime, saying a death sentence for Hayakawa was ''unavoidable'' given his own responsibility for the crimes.
Despite the fact that Hayakawa had owned up to the charges and expressed regret, and that Asahara was the main culprit, Nakagawa said, ''The defendant's criminal responsibility is extremely big, and the entire responsibility cannot be thrown to the cult leader.''
Hayakawa appealed the death sentence imposed on him July 28, 2000, by the Tokyo District Court.
Hayakawa and Asahara are among 12 people sentenced to death for a series of crimes involving AUM. Hayakawa was the fifth person whose death sentence has been upheld by the high court.