Innocent Terrorism?

Tokyo High Court judged a member of Aum Shinrikyo, a cult group committed consecutive terrorisms in 1990s, innocent on a case in which she was suspected to have transported explosive materials. The court denied her intention of helping the crime by the organization. In other words, the court evaluated her status as too low in the hierarchy of the organization to play an important role in the crimes. While terrorism by Aum had been recognized as organized crime by all members, the court distinguished the subordinates from the leaders.

Aum is well known as the conspirator of assault with poisonous sarin gas in subway stations in Tokyo in 1995. Before that chemical terrorism, the organization committed murder of a lawyer and his family who had been supporting the deserters from Aum in 1989. In the previous year of subway sarin incident, the organization tested power of the chemical gas in Matsumoto city, Nagano, causing deaths of eight people.

After a long runaway, Naoko Kikuchi was arrested in 2012. She was suspicious to have committed in murders. But, suspect on her involvement in subway sarin incident was laid as pending. While the police rearrested her on three cases of chemical terrorism called VX gas, punishment on her was also suspended. Then, she was arrested again with suspect of attempted murder in the case of explosion of mail package to Tokyo Metropolitan Government Office.

Tokyo Regional Court found Kikuchi to be guilty last year, because she must have known that the explosives would be used for hurting people. However, the higher court dismissed that decision with a notion that she may not have recognized that as terrorism. “Even if it had been dangerous material, it was hard for her to imagine that she was transporting a resource for terrorism,” told the judgment. It was a decision based on her status inside the organization, in which she had no other choice than obeying to orders from her leaders.

However, Kikuchi was definitely a member of the terrorist group that killed a number of innocent people. She had her own holy name, which indicated her devotion to the cultic dogma. Few months before the mailing package terrorism against Tokyo Metropolitan Government Office, she was suspected to have worked for a transporter in subway sarin incident. In terms of supporting operation of terrorism, she had no difference from members of Al Qaeda. Even how her role was trivial, it is not understandable for ordinary people to judge her innocent.