Who is Shoko Asahara?
He was the leader of the cult that carried out the sarin gas attack in Japan, which killed 13 people and injured more than 6 thousand people. He was executed in 2018. Here is his story:
RELIGIOUS FIGURE, TERRORIST ORGANIZATION LEADER (1955 - 2018)
Shoko Asahara (March 2, 1955 – July 6, 2018), born Chizuo Matsumoto, was the founder and leader of the Japanese doomsday cult known as Aum Shinrikyo. He was convicted of masterminding the deadly 1995 sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway, and was also involved in several other crimes. Asahara was sentenced to death in 2004, and his final appeal failed in 2011. In June 2012, his execution was postponed due to further arrests of Aum members. He was ultimately executed along with other senior members of Aum Shinrikyo on July 6, 2018.
Shoko Asahara is a religious figure and terrorist organization leader who has introduced himself as the Messiah and stated that he is the "light of God". He founded an organization called Aum Shinrikyo and gave religious services within this organization. Shoko Asahara, who claimed that the end of the world would come from a war between the USA and Japan, started to organize terrorist attacks in Japan.
In 1995, he attacked sarin gas, a chemical nerve agent, in the Tokyo subway, causing the death of 12 people and injuring more than 6,000 people. At the same time, the organization is held responsible for the mysterious chemical attacks that occurred in 1994 and were incomprehensible at the time.
It is assumed that the organization had 9,000 members in Japan and 40,000 worldwide at the time of the attack. After the attack, Shoko Asahara, who was considered the "light of God", was caught and sentenced to death. However, the death penalty was constantly postponed because Aum Shiriyko members continued to be caught.
July 2018
In Japan, cult leader Shoko Asahara, who carried out a terrorist attack on a subway station with sarin gas in 1995, was executed.
The Japanese press announced that 6 more sect members were executed along with Asahara.
Important statesmen, politicians, and many public figures of the period were members of the Aum Shinrikyo sect, which Asahara founded in 1984.
Asahara, whose real name is Chizuo Matsumoto, was held responsible for 13 different crimes and the deaths of a total of 29 people.