Prosecutors demanded the death sentence Tuesday for a former senior member of the Aum Shinrikyo cult charged with murder, including the deaths resulting from the 1995 sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway system.
The prosecutors asked for the death penalty in their closing arguments at the Tokyo District Court in the trial of Seiichi Endo, 41, who has admitted helping produce the sarin.
Endo, the former "health and welfare minister" of Aum, which was allegedly trying to topple the government, faces charges that include murder and attempted murder between May 1994 and April 1995.