A son of Aum Shinrikyo founder Shoko Asahara filed a 50 million yen damages suit Friday against a private middle school that refused to admit him even though he passed the entrance exam earlier this year.

According to the lawsuit filed with the Tokyo District Court, the 12-year-old plaintiff passed the exam for Kasukabe Kyoei Junior High School in Saitama Prefecture in January and paid the admission fee.

But the school rejected his enrollment the following month after it found out he was the son of Asahara, who has been sentenced to death over several Aum-related charges.

The school's practice is unconstitutional because it discriminates against him on the grounds of his birth, the plaintiff said.

Hideki Yaguchi, the school's principal, said: "We will decide about how to deal with the issue after checking the complaint."

One of Asahara's daughters filed a similar damages suit with the district court after Wako University in Tokyo refused to admit her in 2004.

In February, the court ruled in her favor, ordering the university to pay 300,000 yen in compensation, explaining that it was illegal to deny her entry after she passed the entrance exam.

Asahara, whose real name is Chizuo Matsumoto, was sentenced to death by the district court for his role in 13 criminal cases, including the 1995 sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway system.