Aum Shinrikyo Incident

A series of incidents caused by a new religious sect whose founder was Matsumoto Chizuo (1955-2018), also known as Shoko Asahara. Matsumoto claimed to be an incarnation of the god Shiva and to have attained final enlightenment in the Himalayas, and was revered by his followers as "Venerable Master." The cult was founded in 1984 (Showa 59) as the "Aum Shinsen no Kai," changed its name to Aum Shinrikyo in 1987, and became a religious corporation in 1989 (Heisei 1). Its headquarters was in Fujinomiya City, Shizuoka Prefecture. It had a cult facility called Satyan in Kamikuishiki Village, Yamanashi Prefecture (now Fujikawaguchiko Town), as well as headquarters and branches in over 20 locations in Japan and branches in four countries overseas. It was said to have around 5,000 followers, including both monks dressed in samana robes and lay followers. The followers engaged in secret training and work called "work", believed in the coming of "Armageddon (final war)", and also had the unusual idea that murder, called "poa", was a good deed due to their "Vajrayana teachings". In 1990, the cult formed a political group called the "Truth Party" and fielded many candidates in the House of Representatives election, but was unsuccessful.

The series of crimes includes the 1989 murder of lawyer Tsutsumi Sakamoto and his family, in which Sakamoto Tsutsumi, a member of the Yokohama Bar Association and active in the Aum Shinrikyo Victims Association (now the Aum Shinrikyo Family Association), was murdered along with two other family members at their home; the Matsumoto Sarin Incident in 1994, in which the highly toxic gas sarin was sprayed in Matsumoto City, Nagano Prefecture, killing seven residents, injuring 144 people and causing poisoning to four; the abduction, confinement and death of the head of Meguro Notary Public Office in Tokyo in February 1995; and the Tokyo Subway Sarin Incident on March 20 of the same year, in which sarin was released in five locations inside Tokyo subway cars, killing 12 passengers and station staff, injuring approximately 3,800 people and causing poisoning to 14 people. Other examples include several cases of lynching and murder by cultists, and murders using VX gas. On March 22, two days after the 1995 Tokyo subway sarin gas attack, the cult's facilities across the country were subjected to forced searches, and on May 16, Asahara Shoko, also known as Matsumoto Chizuo, was arrested on suspicion of murder.

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government and the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office applied for an order to dissolve the cult under the Religious Corporations Act, and the decision to dissolve was made in December 1995 by the Tokyo District Court and the Tokyo High Court. In March 1996, the Tokyo District Court declared the cult bankrupt under the Bankruptcy Act (confirmed in May). In July of the same year, the Public Security Intelligence Agency applied for the group to be dissolved under the Subversive Activities Prevention Act, but the request was rejected in January 1997 after review by the Public Security Examination Commission. In December 1999, two anti-Aum laws were enacted to restrict the activities of Aum Shinrikyo, and in February 2000, a three-year observation period was decided on the basis of the Act, and the Public Security Intelligence Agency conducted its first on-site inspection of the cult's facilities. The observation period was extended for another three years in 2003, 2006, and 2009. Aum Shinrikyo changed its name to Aleph in January 2000, Aleph in February 2003, and Aleph in May 2008. In addition, a new group called "Hikari no Wa," which was established by leaders of the cult who had left the cult in 2007, and "Yamada and Other Group," which split off from "Aleph" around January 2015, are also under observation.

For the various crimes caused by the cult, 192 people associated with the cult, including the cult's founder and executives, were asked to stand trial, and the trials continued. The first trial of Aum Shinrikyo's former leader Matsumoto took place 256 times from the first hearing in 1996 until 2003. In February 2004, the Tokyo District Court found Matsumoto guilty of murdering a total of 27 people in 13 incidents, including the Tokyo subway sarin gas attack, and sentenced him to death. The defense appealed, but the Tokyo High Court dismissed the appeal in March 2006. The defense then filed a special appeal, but the Supreme Court dismissed it in September of the same year, and the death sentence was finalized.

[Hiroyuki Iwai, July 20, 2018]

In January 2018, after 22 years since it began, the trials related to Aum Shinrikyo concluded. Thirteen people, including Matsumoto, were sentenced to death. On July 6 of the same year, Matsumoto and six former executives (a total of seven people) were executed, and on July 26, the remaining six were executed.

[Editorial Department, August 21, 2018]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

麻原彰晃(しょうこう)こと松本智津夫（1955―2018）を教祖とする新宗教の一派により引き起こされた一連の事件。松本は自らをシバ大神の化身で、ヒマラヤで最終解脱(げだつ)をしたと称し、信者からは「尊師」と仰がれていた。教団は1984年（昭和59）に「オウム神仙の会」として発足し、1987年にオウム真理教と名称を変更、1989年（平成1）に宗教法人となった。本部は静岡県富士宮市。山梨県上九一色(かみくいしき)村（現、富士河口湖町）にサティアンと称する教団施設、また国内二十数か所に本部、支部、海外4か国に支部を設けていた。信者数は約5000人と称され、サマナ服をまとった出家の信者と在家信者とがあった。信者は、秘儀の修行や「ワーク」と称する作業に従事、「ハルマゲドン（最終戦争）」の到来を信じ、またその「ヴァジラヤーナの教え」により「ポア」と称する殺人は善業になる、との特異な考えも抱かされた。教団は、1990年政治団体「真理党」を結成、衆議院議員選挙へ多数の候補者を擁立するが失敗に終った。

　一連の犯罪事件は、1989年「オウム真理教被害者の会」（現、オウム真理教家族の会）の活動に従事していた横浜弁護士会の弁護士坂本堤(つつみ)が自宅で家族2人とともに殺害された坂本弁護士一家殺害事件、1994年長野県松本市で猛毒ガス・サリンを噴霧し、住民7人を死亡、144人に重軽症、4人に中毒症の傷害を負わせた松本サリン事件、1995年2月東京の目黒公証役場事務長の拉致(らち)監禁致死事件、そして同年3月20日には東京の地下鉄車内5か所においてサリンを発散させ、乗客、駅職員12人死亡、約3800人が重軽症を負い、14人に中毒症の各傷害を負わせる惨事を起こした地下鉄サリン事件がある。このほか、数件の信者リンチ殺人事件、VXガス使用殺人事件等々があげられる。1995年に起きた地下鉄サリン事件から2日後の3月22日、全国の教団施設が強制捜査をうけ、5月16日、麻原彰晃こと松本智津夫は殺人容疑で逮捕された。

　この教団に対し、東京都と東京地方検察庁は宗教法人法に基づく団体の解散命令を請求し、1995年12月に東京地裁、東京高裁を経て解散の決定が下された。1996年3月には破産法に基づき、東京地裁が教団の破産を宣告した（5月確定）。また、公安調査庁は同年7月破壊活動防止法に基づく団体規制の解散指定を請求したが、1997年1月、公安審査委員会の審査により請求が棄却された。1999年12月、オウム真理教の活動を規制することを目的としたオウム対策二法が成立し、2000年2月に同法に基づき、同教団に3年間の観察処分が決定、公安調査庁は教団施設への初の立入検査を行った。2003年と2006年、2009年に観察処分がさらに3年間延長された。なお、オウム真理教は2000年1月に教団名をアレフに、2003年2月アーレフ、2008年5月Aleph(アレフ)に改称した。また、2007年に脱会した教団幹部らが設立した新団体「ひかりの輪」、2015年1月ごろに「Aleph」から分かれた「山田らの集団」も観察処分となっている。

　教団が引き起こした前記の諸事件については、教祖や幹部をはじめ教団関係者192人が公判請求され、裁判が続けられた。オウム真理教元代表松本の一審公判は、1996年の初公判から2003年まで256回におよんだ。2004年2月、東京地裁で、地下鉄サリン事件などを含む13事件、計27人を殺害したとの罪に問われ、松本は13の事件すべての首謀者であるとして有罪を認定、死刑の判決をうけた。弁護側は控訴したが2006年3月に東京高裁は控訴を棄却、これを受け弁護側は特別抗告を行ったが、最高裁は同年9月にそれを棄却し、死刑が確定した。

［岩井弘融　2018年7月20日］

　2018年1月、開始から22年でオウム真理教関連の裁判は終結。松本をはじめ13人に死刑判決が下され、同年7月6日に松本と元幹部6人（合計7人）、さらに7月26日に残りの6人の死刑が執行された。

［編集部　2018年8月21日］

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