The Asahara Trial: Cultist says he buried VX to stop attacks

Japan Times/March 27, 1997

Former Aum Shinrikyo fugitive Yasuo Hayashi testified March 27 that he volunteered in April 1995 to bury deadly VX nerve gas produced by the cult so it would not be used in a terrorist attack.

Hayashi, 40, is accused of participating in the cult's attacks, which include the March 1995 subway sarin gassing, the June 1994 nerve gas attack in Matsumoto, Nagano Prefecture, and the foiled cyanide gas attack at Tokyo's Shinjuku Station.

Hayashi is in his second consecutive day of testifying for prosecutors in the trial of cult founder Shoko Asahara and was being cross-examined by Asahara's defense team. Hayashi testified that he received permission from senior cultist Yoshihiro Inoue to bury the VX gas in April 1995, while he was on the run after the subway gassing, which killed 12 people and injured thousands.

Hayashi claimed he volunteered to hide the gas because he did not want the cult to use it again, adding that he had lost confidence in Asahara after the Matsumoto attack, the deaths of followers in initiation rituals and other shady activities carried out by the cult. He said cultist Gentaro Takahashi had spoken with him about his fear of the VX.

Takahashi was ordered by Inoue to neutralize the nerve gas with a chemical and wash it down the sink in the event of a police raid on the cult facilities, Hayashi said. Takahashi was worried that he might blunder in the process and get killed himself, Hayashi added.

Soon after Hayashi was arrested, the Metropolitan Police Department unearthed a glass bottle containing about 30-40 cc of VX in liquid form from a river bank in Kodaira, Tokyo, based on his confession. The bottle held enough VX to kill hundreds of people, according to police.