Aum Shin Rikyo prosecutors seek death sentence

[July 10, 1998]

Kazuaki Okazaki may be the first Aum Shin Rikyo member to receive the death sentence for cult related crimes. Prosecutors this week revealed they will be seeking the death penalty in the case. The 37-year old member of the "Supreme Truth" cult is charged with participating in the 1989 murders of an anti-cult attorney and the attorney's family. Lawyer Tsutsumi Sakamoto was preparing a lawsuit against Aum Shin Rikyo when he, his wife, and their baby son were killed in their Tokyo home. According to Scripps Howard Newspapers Press Journal [July 7, 1998], Okazaki strangled Tsutsumi while the lawyer was sleeping. Cult members buried the bodies. Six cult members in all were charged with the deaths, including former cult leader Shoko Asahara. Aum Shin Rikyo is the group responsible for the 1995 sarin gas attack in the Tokyo subways which killed 12 people and injured many others.