The mayor of Tokyo's Katsushika Ward on Thursday demanded that senior Aum Shinrikyo member Fumihiro Joyu, who moved into an apartment in the ward on Tuesday, leave due to residents' concerns.

"We cannot tolerate his stay due to residents' concerns and mental distress," Mayor Isamu Aoki said in a letter handed to Aum by a municipal official.

The municipal government has formed a task force, which is headed by the mayor, and decided in September last year not to accept the residency registrations of Aum members.

Joyu, 37, moved into a room on the fourth floor of a five-story apartment in the ward's Kanamachi district after residing for one month at an apartment in Kita Ward. The two apartments are some 10 km apart.

It was the third time that Joyu has changed addresses within Tokyo since leaving Aum's Yokohama branch in Kanagawa Prefecture on Sept. 20 and moving into a building in Tokyo's Adachi Ward.

Joyu moved to the Yokohama branch after being released from Hiroshima Prison in late December after serving a three-year term for perjury and document falsification.

On Sept. 6 the Yokohama District Court ordered Aum to vacate the Yokohama branch, located in an apartment building, in line with the demands of the building's residents.

Joyu became notorious through his media exposure as Aum's spokesman until his arrest in October 1995.

A number of Aum members have been convicted or are on trial in serious criminal cases, including the 1995 sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway system, which killed 12 people and injured more than 5,000.