Former Japanese cult guru Shoko Asahara was sentenced to death today for masterminding a sarin nerve gas attack in Tokyo subway trains in 1995 that killed 12 and sickened thousands.The 48-year-old Asahara, who led the Aum Shinri Kyo (Supreme Truth Sect), was found guilty at Tokyo District Court of 13 charges including responsibility for the subway attack and a series of other crimes that killed 15 more people. ‘‘His crimes did not stop at the murder of specific individuals but expanded into indiscriminate acts of terrorism,’’ said Judge Shoji Ogawa.Eight guards helped Asahara rise to hear the verdict that concluded the eight-year trial. The gassing, with its images of bodies lying across platforms and soldiers in gas masks sealing off Tokyo subway stations, stunned the Japanese public. Sarin gas was first developed by the Nazis. —(Reuters)
