Former Aum Shinrikyo cultist Naoko Kikuchi pleaded not guilty Thursday to attempted murder, claiming she had no idea she was abetting what would become the 1995 parcel bombing of a Tokyo Metropolitan Government office.
"It is true that I carried chemicals (to my superior cultists) on several occasions. But I swear I had absolutely no idea what purpose they would be used for," Kikuchi, 42, said at the Tokyo District Court, on the first day of her trial.
The former fugitive was nabbed in 2012 after 17 years on the run. She entered the courtroom Thursday clad in a gray suit, spectacles and her hair braided into a ponytail.
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