Cult leader 'may be feigning illness to evade death penalty'
21/02/2006 - 10:13:28The Japanese former cult leader sentenced to die for a deadly nerve gas attack on the Tokyo underground rail network might be faking insanity to avoid the gallows, said a psychiatric report released today.
The 88-page report concluded that Shoko Asahara, the former guru of the Aum Shinrikyo cult, is competent to stand trial in his appeal against a 2004 conviction and death sentence.
Asahara was found guilty of a series of attacks that killed 27 people.
