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Shoko Asahara, founder of the religious cult Aum Shinrikyo, was convicted of masterminding the 1995 Sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway. He was sentenced to death in 2004.
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Play NowShoko Asahara. (2013). The Biography Channel website. Retrieved 12:43, Jun 19, 2013, from http://www.biography.com/people/shoko-asahara-20900591.
Shoko Asahara. [Internet]. 2013. The Biography Channel website. Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/shoko-asahara-20900591 [Accessed 19 Jun 2013].
"Shoko Asahara." 2013. The Biography Channel website. Jun 19 2013, 12:43 http://www.biography.com/people/shoko-asahara-20900591.
"Shoko Asahara," The Biography Channel website, 2013, http://www.biography.com/people/shoko-asahara-20900591 [accessed Jun 19, 2013].
"Shoko Asahara," The Biography Channel website, http://www.biography.com/people/shoko-asahara-20900591 (accessed Jun 19, 2013).
Shoko Asahara [Internet]. The Biography Channel website; 2013 [cited 2013 Jun 19] Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/shoko-asahara-20900591.
Shoko Asahara, http://www.biography.com/people/shoko-asahara-20900591 (last visited Jun 19, 2013).
Shoko Asahara. The Biography Channel website. 2013. Available at: http://www.biography.com/people/shoko-asahara-20900591. Accessed Jun 19, 2013.
During the trial, the remaining members of Aum Shinrikyo distanced themselves from Asahara and denounced terrorism. The trial lasted eight years due to a scandal with one of the defense attorneys who was accused, but later acquitted, of obstruction. Asahara also refused to cooperate with his later court-appointed attorneys, claiming insanity. He was finally convicted of 13 separate crimes in 2004, and was sentenced to death. His final appeal was dismissed in 2006. Today,
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Asahara is reportedly confined to a wheelchair and unable to respond to anyone coherently.
The Aum Shinrikyo organization was renamed Aleph in 2002, and its members have distanced themselves from the criminal acts of the 1990s. However, they continue to use Shoko Asahara's teachings.
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