The marathon trial of Chizuo Matsumoto, alias Shoko Asahara, the founder of the Aum Shinrikyo cult, reached a milestone on Friday when the Tokyo District Court sentenced him to death. But, to everyone's dismay, the trial left a crucial question largely unanswered: Why did the guru and a handful of his top disciples commit a series of such heinous crimes?

Asahara, a self-styled prophet of Armageddon, was found guilty on 13 criminal counts that caused 27 deaths, including the 1995 sarin gas attack in a Tokyo subway that killed 12 and injured thousands; the 1994 sarin poisoning in Matsumoto, Nagano Prefecture, that left seven people dead and sickened hundreds; and the 1989 slayings of anti-Aum lawyer Tsutsumi Sakamoto and his family. According to the ruling, Asahara "masterminded" not only the manufacture and use of the deadly gas but also indiscriminate terrorist attacks in a bid to militarize the cult. In doing so, the statement said he "exhibited a fanatic desire to promote himself and control others."

The trial took seven years and 10 months. This seems simply too long, even considering the peculiar problems that stood in the way, such as the defendant's consistent refusal to answer questions. Now that the sentence has been delivered, a review of the whole process is in order. Also needed is a further analysis of the dilemmas in modern society that seemed to have sent so many young people knocking at Aum's door.