Aum Shinrikyo founder Shoko Asahara's defense counsel began its arguments Thursday in his Tokyo District Court trial on charges of murder and other offenses related to the 1995 Tokyo subway sarin attack and other crimes.
The trial of Asahara, 47, whose real name is Chizuo Matsumoto, began more than six years ago, and in January prosecutors finished presenting their case. Asahara stands accused of 13 crimes, including seven murders ,and masterminding the subway attack and a deadly sarin attack the previous year in Nagano Prefecture.
The defense team is expected to take at least a year to complete its presentation of evidence, and the prosecution is expected to demand a sentence for Asahara by the end of 2003.