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| East Asia |
| Death for Japan cult chemist |
| 2004-01-30 |
| A Japanese chemist who oversaw the development of nerve gas used in a 1995 attack on the Tokyo subway has been sentenced to death. Masami Tsuchiya, 39, became the 11th member of the Aum Shinrikyo cult that carried out the attack to be sentenced to death. Prosecutors said he was the second most important person behind the attack, after the cult’s leader Shoko Asahara. The verdict on Mr Asahara’s seven-year trial is expected next month. Tsuchiya was enrolled on a doctorate programme in chemistry at Tsukuba University when he became involved with Aum, according to Kyodo news agency. He was charged with murder and attempted murder in the subway gassing and other attacks. He was accused of heading the cult’s drive to develop chemical weapons including VX, mustard and sarin gases. Sarin was used in the March 1995 attack, which killed 12 people and left 5,000 people injured. Tsuchiya also produced sarin gas for a July 1994 attack on a residential area in the central Japanese city of Matsumoto which killed seven people and injured 144 others, presiding judge Satoru Hattori said. About time, they hang them in Japa by the way. |
| Posted by:Steve |
| #11 "I simply can not bring myself to say "Kill Him"." Gotcha covered,Adriane. "Kill that bastard" |
| Posted by: Raptor 2004-1-31 9:36:03 AM |
| #10 Ever since I saw Raising the Red Lantern and watched Wife #3 jerk and struggle all the way over to the tower of death, I can not support the death penalty. {She had been caught in bed with another man, and her husband ordered the servants, as was his legal right, to hang her.} Self-defense: you, your family, your nation - no arguement. I would even support killing him during an attempted escape from jail knowing what he is capable of and knowing that he might want to do it again. But somehow, when I think of having to walk through the actual logistics - Monday buy poison; Tuesday buy needle - I can't not picture doing that and staying sane. And therefore, would not want anyone else to go insane somehow, executing him on my behalf. I do not wish this to be taken that somehow the victims' families should "just move on". You never "move on". But do we not learn to 'endure without bitterness' as part of our culture's sense of maturity? This very different from "endure because society doesn't give a harry rat's ass about your pain" because you are say ... a Coptic Christian family whose daughter was kidnapped in Egypt, a Bantu woman raped in a Somoli refugee camp, a Dalit whose house was burned by a Uppercaste hired hooligans. Enduring these things is not maturity. You stand alone, because society has decreed that you, being different, have no right to demand the majority rouse themselves on your behalf. That is injustice. But this specific case in Japan is different. This man and others in the cult have been brought to justice. This man had been found guilty. I simply can not bring myself to say "Kill Him". I believe life without possibility of parole is sufficient. Japanese jails are not Club Med. |
| Posted by: Adriane 2004-1-30 10:49:39 PM |
| #9 I didn't realize Japan had the death penalty The Japanese don't talk about it. Their legal system is also no-nonsense. The L.A. City Council would go into spasms if the LAPD did half what the Japanese police can do. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2004-1-30 9:43:48 PM |
| #8 Now AC you will admit that the Japaneese do have a natural touch for flowers (which I envy). |
| Posted by: Shipman 2004-1-30 5:20:24 PM |
| #7 The lefty NGO/academic axis doesn't want you to know that Japan has the death penalty and their media allies are very helpful in this regard. One of their favorite claims, in fact, is that the US is the only major industrialized country that does retain the death penalty. On campus, rank and file Mumia Cong are simply not aware of Japan's death penalty and often flatly refuse to believe it when told. To them, Japan is a peaceful enlightened country of flower-arranging atom-bomb victims and could not possibly be killing people under judicial order. These are generally the same asshats who refuse to believe that socialistic, navel-gazing Sweden has an army, let alone conscription. |
| Posted by: Atomic Conspiracy 2004-1-30 3:18:18 PM |
| #6 My views on the death penalty agree pretty much with the views expressed by the Pope. In that interest letting me begin a rousing rebuttal in the defence of Masami Tsuchiya's human rights .... (thinking, thinking ... need an angle ... sarin gas ... injured 5000 people... hmmm?) I think I will await a better case to argue. |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2004-1-30 11:55:51 AM |
| #5 Raptor, they use a noose. |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2004-1-30 10:32:18 AM |
| #4 What do they use:lethal injection,beheading.etc.? |
| Posted by: Raptor 2004-1-30 9:49:15 AM |
| #3 Where's human rights watch, Mike Farrell and AI? Bush isn't hanging them, so they don't care. |
| Posted by: Steve 2004-1-30 9:43:43 AM |
| #2 I didn't realize Japan had the death penalty. Good for them. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2004-1-30 9:42:45 AM |
| #1 Where's human rights watch, Mike Farrell and AI? should'nt they be begging for this twisted scum sucking bastard's life about now? |
| Posted by: Jarhead 2004-1-30 9:25:13 AM |