The Tokyo High Court on Friday upheld the death sentence for senior Aum Shinrikyo figure Kiyohide Hayakawa for crimes that include murder and the production of sarin gas.
Hayakawa, 54, pleaded guilty in all seven cases in which he was charged. The charges included taking part in the murder of a lawyer and his family as well as an Aum member who wanted to leave the cult, and also building a plant in Yamanashi Prefecture to mass-produce sarin, which was used in the 1995 fatal attack on the Tokyo subway system and a deadly attack the previous year in Matsumoto, Nagano Prefecture.
The Tokyo District Court handed Hayakawa the death sentence on July 28, 2000.