One-time Aum Shinrikyo biologist Seiichi Endo told the Tokyo District Court on Friday that he believes cult founder Shoko Asahara ordered the June 1994 sarin gas attack in Matsumoto, Nagano Prefecture, although other top cultists claimed the late cult scientist Hideo Murai ordered it.
Taking the witness stand during Asahara's trial, Endo, who stands accused of playing a key role in the attack, which killed seven people, said Asahara ordered that sarin be released on a police station in Matsumoto.
Responding to cross-examination by the defense team, Endo claimed he was aware senior cultists Tomomasa Nakagawa and Tomomitsu Niimi alleged Murai ordered the attack, but he recalls Asahara saying it. Murai was shot to death in 1995.
"But Murai was in charge of giving orders at the scene," Endo said.
The biologist said Asahara and other senior cult members were discussing whether to attack the police or the court prior to the attack. The deadly gassing took place in a residential area in Matsumoto where judges handling a lawsuit over an Aum property deal lived.
Although prosecutors said the cult waged the attack to hinder the suit before the Nagano District Court's Matsumoto branch, Endo claimed he did not know anything about it at that time.
In Friday's hearing, Endo also described how the cult used LSD during the meditation dubbed "Christ's initiation" so that followers could undergo "mysterious experiences."
Endo added he believes it was Asahara who first referred to LSD as "Christ."