Aum Shinrikyo Victim's Son Wants Continued Remorse

Tokyo, March 14 (Jiji Press)--The son of a victim in an abduction case involving the Aum Shinrikyo doomsday cult wants perpetrators to continue feeling remorse 30 years on.

"There are two kinds of atonement," said Minoru Kariya, 65, whose father Kiyoshi, then 68, was killed in the incident. "One is criminal punishment for breaking the law and the other is compensation to victims."

In February 1995, Kiyoshi was abducted on a street in Tokyo by senior cult members seeking information about the whereabouts of his younger sister. Then Aum Shinrikyo leader Chizuo Matsumoto, who went by the name of Shoko Asahara, had ordered the abduction so that Kiyoshi's sister, who was a follower of the cult, would make a large donation to it.

During the criminal trial, it was established that Kiyoshi died after being given a large amount of anesthetic. The perpetrators were convicted of detainment and confinement resulting in death.

Dissatisfied with the court's failure to find the perpetrators guilty of murder, Kariya filed a civil suit against them.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]