Death sentence for ex-AUM member Hayakawa finalized

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TOKYO, Aug. 1 Kyodo -
The death sentence for a former senior member of the AUM Shinrikyo religious
cult has been finalized after the Supreme Court on Friday rejected the
defendant's request for the sentence to be overturned, sources familiar with
the matter said Saturday.
Kiyohide Hayakawa, 60, was convicted of involvement in a series of crimes
including the 1989 murders of an anti-AUM lawyer and his family. He was
sentenced to death by the Tokyo District Court in 2000, a decision upheld by
the Tokyo High Court in 2004 and the Supreme Court on July 17.
Hayakawa is the sixth former member of AUM on death row.
AUM founder Shoko Asahara, whose real name is Chizuo Matsumoto, and four other
former members of the cult are currently on death row with their sentences
finalized.
According to last month's decision by the top court, Hayakawa conspired with
Matsumoto and others to kill a 21-year-old AUM follower, who wanted to leave
the cult, at its facility in Shizuoka Prefecture in February 1989. Hayakawa
then murdered lawyer Tsutsumi Sakamoto, his wife and their son in Yokohama in
November that year.
Four other former AUM members received death sentences for the murders of
Sakamoto and his family.
Hayakawa was also convicted of involvement in the construction of a sarin nerve
gas production plant at AUM's main facility in Yamanashi Prefecture from 1993
to 1994.
Sarin gas was used in a 1994 attack on a residential area of Matsumoto, Nagano
Prefecture, and a 1995 attack on the Tokyo subway system, which left a total of
20 people dead and thousands ill.
==Kyodo
2009-08-02 00:13:20