The Asahara Trial: Aum doc puts blame on guru

Japan Times, June 25, 1999

Former Aum Shinrikyo doctor Ikuo Hayashi testified in the trial session of cult founder Shoko Asahara on Friday that the basic responsibility of the illing and drugging of Kiyoshi Kariya, a Tokyo notary public, in February 1995, lies with Asahara since he was the one who ordered it.

But Hayashi, 52, who is currently serving a lifetime sentence, told the Tokyo District Court that he and other cult members who took part in the incident are also accountable. He blamed himself for consciously abusing his code of ethics and administering a second dose of an anesthetic in the hopes it would act as a truth serum.

The cult allegedly abducted Kariya from a Tokyo street on Feb. 28, 1995, to ask the whereabouts of his sister, who was a follower and had been offering large sums of money to Aum.