Aum Shinrikyo and the Japanese Law on bioterrorism

Prehospital and Disaster Medicine

Volumn 18, Issue 3, 2003, Pages 179-183

  Sugishima, Masaaki ^a  

^a ASAHI UNIVERSITY   (Japan)

Author keywords

anthrax; Aum Shimkyo; bioterrorism; bioweapons; botulism toxin; chemical attacks; citizens; cyanide; Japan; laws; public; sarin; terrorism

Indexed keywords

ARTICLE; BIOLOGICAL WARFARE; DISASTER PLANNING; JAPAN; LEGAL ASPECT;

BIOTERRORISM; DISASTER PLANNING; JAPAN;

EID: 3042698702     PISSN: 1049023X     EISSN: 19451938     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/S1049023X00001023     Document Type: Article

References (30)

1. Comment of Bruce Hoffman mentioned in the staff report titled "Global Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction: A Case Study on the Aum Shinrikyo. Global Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction", Hearings before the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations of the Committee on Governmental Affairs, United States Senate, 104th Congress, 1st Session, Part 1, 31 October and 01 November 1995, p 47.
2. This law was amended in December 2001. See infra.
3. Hearings in note 1, p 50.
4. Prosecutors' Opening Statement at Asahara's Court Trial, 25 April 1996, in Kyodo Tsushin Shakaibu (Social Affairs Bureau of Kyodo News Agency), Sabakareru Kyoso (Guru under His Trial), Kyodo News Agency (1997), pp 254-255 (Japanese).
5. In Asahara's view, killing people to stop culminating their bad Karma was a righteous conduct. The Aum justified their chemical and biological terrorisms with this doctrine.
6. Asahara might have been inspired by the balloon bomb operation of the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II.
7. An Aum's medical doctor told another senior follower that they could not have cultivated Clostridium botulinum successfully. Tokyo District Court, Judgment on Murder and Other Cases of Tomomitsu Niimi, 26 June 2002, HanreiJiho; 1795:61. (Japanese).
8. Niimi was prosecuted for Tokyo and Matsumoto sarin incidents, the 1989 assassination of the Attorney's family in Yokohama, the use of VX against critics of the Aum and other cases. Tokyo District Court sentenced him to death.
9. For the profile of senior Aum followers, see Hearings in note 1, pp 57,83-84.
10. Though "Clostridium botulinum-like substance1 is a vague expression, the Aum seemed not to have cultivated the pathogen successfully yet. Judgment in note 8, p 61.
11. It is not clear form the judgment whether the case really contained Clostridium botulinum. Location of the purification plant was not specified. Judgment in note 7, p 61.
12. Judgment in note 7, p 65.
13. Anonymous: Disseminators were Filled with Clostridium botulinum, Asahi Shinbun, 11 June 1995 (Japanese). Testimony of Yoshihiro Inoue at Asahara's Court Trial, 22 November 1996. Chunichi Shinbun, 23 November 1996.
14. Judgment in note 7, p 64.
15. Iku Asou, Gokuhi Sousa, Secret Investigation, Bungei Shunjyu, 1997 pp 11-13. (Japanese).
16. Takashashi H, Keim P, Kaufmaann AF, Keys C, SmithKL, Taniguchi K, et ah Bacillus anthracis incident, Kameido, Tokyo, 1993. Emerg Infect Dis 2004:10(1):117-120.
17. Prosecutors' opening statements in note 4, p 255.
18. Kenneth V. Iserson, Demon Doctors, Galen Press, 2002, pp 298-302.
19. The Japanese government estimated the Aum's assets approximately SI billion. Hearings in note 1, p 57.
20. Interfax Agency, Former Security Chief Lobov Questioned over Involvement with Japanese Sect, 06 May 1997.
21. One senior follower of the Aum mentioned Dr. Anatoly Volobyov, first deputy director of Biopreparat whose primary function was to develop and produce biological weapons in the Soviet Union. Fumiya Hitotsubashi, Aum Teikoku no Shotai (The Truth about the Aum Empire), Shincbo 45+, May 1996, p 160 (in Japanese);
22. Ken Alibek with Stephen Handelman, Biohazard, Random House (New York, 1998). p 27.
23. Anonymous: The Japanese Law is Incomplete to Make Terrorist Responsible for their Bio terrorism, Mainichi Shinbun, 15 November, 1995. (Japanese).
24. Masahiko Asada, National Implementation of the Chemical Weapons Convention in Japan, The Japanese Annual of International Law 1996;39:19-54.
25. Kyodo News Service, Legal Procedures to Outlaw Aum Announced by government, Japan Economic Newstvire, 20 December, 1995;
26. Jiji Press, Aum Disbandment Request Turned Down, iji Press Ticker Service, 31 January 1997.
27. Kyodo News Service, Obuchi Seeks Prompt Action against Aum, japan Economic Newsiutre, 27 December 1999;
28. Kyodo News Service, Public Security Panel Approves Aum Surveillance, Japan Economic Newswire, 31 January 2000.
29. Raymond Zilinskas: Preparedness for Biological Events in Japan and the United States, In: Masaaki Sugishima (ed), A Comprehensive Study on Bioterrorism. Center for Legal Studies Monograph, no.6 (Asahi University), 2003. (in press).
30. Yamanouchi K, Mise K:, Creeping Bioterrorism, NHK Book, 2003, pp 237-239. (Japanese).