A decade after the Aum attacks

地下鉄サリン事件から10年

    The passage of 10 years seems hardly enough to heal the sorrow of the families of the deceased and the suffering of the surviving victims.

    Some survivors are bedridden with little or no prospect of recovery. Some become sick in February or March every year, as memories of the terror come back to haunt them. Many are gripped by fears of terrorism.

    Certainly the government needs to do more to help the victims as well as the bereaved families. Financial aid is available to crime victims, but it is far from sufficient to support their lives. Workers who were victimized in the sarin attack are eligible for care and treatment under an expanded worker-accident compensation system.

    Yet more public research is needed on the effects of sarin on the human body, the epidemiological characteristics of poisoning in general, and treatment methods.

    Some of the lessons of the sarin attack have been well learned. A case in point: It has promoted public awareness of posttraumatic stress disorder.

    The same is true of the Great Hanshin Earthquake, which occurred in January of the same year. As a result, mental health care has made much progress in the fields of treatment and education.

    On the legislative front, the Diet in December passed a basic law for supporting crime victims. This legislation, initially proposed by a group of sarin-attack victims, states that the government has a duty to help them. Guidelines in the works should apply to other victims of past crimes.

    Meanwhile, the seemingly endless series of "Aum trials" goes on. Some defendants have pleaded guilty, but the primary defendant and the founder of the Aum Shinrikyo religious cult, Shoko Asahara, maintains a mysterious silence. In February 2004, the Tokyo District Court sentenced him to death, although he never testified during his trial. After the ruling, he reportedly refused to speak even to his new lawyers.

    Asahara's defense team, arguing that he is no longer mentally fit to account for his criminal acts, has requested, unsuccessfully, that the Tokyo High Court suspend further proceedings. It is unclear, though, when the first session of the appeal trial will open. Indications are that it could be delayed until 2006.

    Parties involved should do everything they can to speed up the Asahara trial. The defense team should improve communication with him, and the judges need to exert strong leadership to keep proceedings on course.

    The guru Asahara holds the key; without his full testimony it will be impossible to get a complete picture of Aum's crimes.

    Aum Shinrikyo, which now calls itself Aleph, remains active in 17 of 47 prefectures, although it is being monitored by the Public Security Investigation Agency. The sect is dangerous, the agency says, because Asahara is regaining respect among the followers, as evidenced by the display of his photographs and the use of his videotaped sermons.

    The agency should inspect Aum facilities more often to get accurate information about its motives and activities. As the national police chief has acknowledged, the lesson from past Aum investigations is that the agency overlooked the fact that Aum had transformed itself from a religious cult into a terrorist organization.

    It is, therefore, essential that the agency more closely monitor Aum activities. Police, meanwhile, should bolster their efforts to apprehend any Aum member suspected of wrongdoing. The common objective is to prevent the recurrence of terrorist acts by Aum and dispel the deep unease that exists among people who live near Aum facilities.

    The sarin incident, it was pointed out at the time, exposed a lack of professional knowledge of biological and chemical terrorism within the security and police organizations. That "knowledge gap" has since been reduced significantly. Police headquarters in eight prefectures have rapid-response units familiar with nuclear, biological and chemical terrorism. Such units should be created at all headquarters to deal with international terrorism as well.

    Pundits say that young people with a higher education, including college graduates with an engineering degree, joined Aum because they were disappointed with prospects in society. Aum reportedly continues to recruit new followers behind the scenes. If those pundits are right, the best way to root out dangerous groups like Aum will be to create a society that is more attractive to youth.

The Japan Times Weekly
March 26, 2005
(C) All rights reserved

      被害者の中には、今も寝たきりで回復の見込みのない人もいる。

      政府は、遺族、被害者に対し、さらなる救済措置を推進すべきである。犯罪被害者に対する生活援助は十分とはいえない。人体に対するサリンの影響、中毒の疫学的特徴、治療法について公的調査が必要である。

      サリン事件は、心的外傷後ストレス障害（PTSD）に対する国民の認識を高めた。1995年1月の阪神大震災についても、同様のことが言える。この結果、精神衛生学は治療、教育面で大きく進歩した。

      国会は12月に犯罪被害者等基本法を成立させた。地下鉄サリン事件の被害者により提案された同法は、政府に対し犯罪被害者を支援することを義務づけている。

      事件を起こしたオウム真理教関係者に対する一連の裁判は今も続いている。罪を認めた被告もいるが、教祖、麻原彰晃被告は沈黙を続けたままだ。東京地裁は04年2月に証言拒否を続ける麻原被告に死刑の宣告を下したが、東京高裁の控訴審初公判は06年にまでずれ込みそうだ。

      関係者は麻原被告に対する公判の迅速化を進めるべきだ。弁護団は被告との意思疎通を強化し、裁判官は予定通り公判を進めるよう指導すべきだ。被告の協力がなくてはオウム犯罪の全貌を知ることはできない。

      オウム真理教（現アーレフ）は今も17都府県で活動を続けている。公安調査庁はオウムの監視を強化し、警察は逃亡中のオウム関係の犯罪容疑者を早く逮捕すべきだ。

      地下鉄サリン事件は、公安、警察当局の生物化学テロについての無知を露呈した。事件後、8都府県の警察本部に核・生物化学テロに対応できる機動部隊が創設された。同様の部隊を全国の警察本部に設置するべきである。

高学歴の若い信者の多くは、現在の社会に不満でオウムに入信したという。オウムのような宗教団体を根絶する最善の方法は、若者にとって魅力ある社会を作ることだろう。