Guru Must Pay Family of Slain Cult Member
The doomsday cult leader on trial for last year’s fatal gas attack on the Tokyo subway was ordered Monday to pay $939,000 to the parents of a cult member beaten to death during religious training.
The parents of 25-year-old Teruyuki Mashima brought the suit against Aum Supreme Truth leader Shoko Asahara for the 1988 beating, apparently by cult followers, a Tokyo District Court official said.
The court official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Asahara did not send representatives to the court or reply to the lawsuit.
Asahara is on trial for murder in the March 1995 Tokyo nerve gas attack that killed 11 people and sickened more than 5,500.
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