Rejecting his appeal, the Supreme Court on Feb. 15 finalized the death sentence of senior Aum Shinrikyo cultist Yasuo Hayashi, a key figure in the deadly 1995 sarin gas attack on Tokyo's subway system.

Hayashi was convicted of murder and attempted murder for his role in the subway gassing, which left 12 dead and some 5,500 injured, and for his involvement in dispersing sarin in June 1994 in Matsumoto, Nagano Prefecture. He was also found guilty of aiding a failed attempt to release cyanide gas in Tokyo's Shinjuku Station in May 1995.

The Tokyo District Court in June 2000 condemned Hayashi, a ruling the Tokyo High Court upheld in December 2003.

The top court's Second Petty Bench unanimously agreed that Hayashi's deeds showed "the utmost malevolence," ruling his terrorist acts resulted in the death or injury of thousands of innocent civilians.