Aum 'doctor' gets death penalty

Japan Today/October 29, 2003

Tokyo -- The Tokyo District Court on Wednesday sentenced senior Aum Shinrikyo cultist Tomomasa Nakagawa to death for his roles in the murders of 24 people in cases including the sect's sarin gas attacks on the Tokyo subway and in Nagano Prefecture.

Nakagawa, 41, ranks second to Aum founder Shoko Asahara in terms of the number of charges he faces. He has been indicted in 11 criminal cases. His lawyers argued that he did not know that the nerve gas would be used in the Tokyo subway attack on March 20, 1995 and was acting on his superior's orders.