The Tokyo High Court upheld the death penalty on Yasuo...

The Tokyo High Court upheld the death penalty on Yasuo Hayashi, a former senior member of the Aum Supreme Truth cult, for his role in the 1995 sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway system and other offenses. Hayashi, 45, had appealed the sentence handed down on June 2000 by the Tokyo District Court, which found him guilty of releasing sarin gas in a Hibiya Line train. Presiding Judge Koshi Murakami said, "As he took the precious lives of eight people by releasing a large quantity of sarin gas, the court has no choice but to uphold the death sentence." Hayashi is the fourth former Aum member to have a death sentence upheld by the high court. Hayashi's lawyers immediately appealed to the Supreme Court. During the trial, the defense called on the high court to commute the sentence, asserting that Hayashi had committed the crimes out of fear that he would be killed if he disobeyed orders from higher-ranking Aum members. However, Murakami said Hayashi had carried three bags containing sarin gas, one more than the four other perpetrators in the subway attack, and was responsible for killing the greatest number of people.