AUM gas attack victim tells of terror in court
TOKYO, May 26 (Kyodo) -- A man who was gassed allegedly by a senior member
of the religious cult AUM Shinrikyo said Monday he might have been
attacked because he hid a female AUM follower who wanted to quit the
cult.
Standing as an witness for the prosecution at the Tokyo District Court in
the trial of the cult's suspected hitman, Seiichi Endo, Noboru Mizuno said
he has no memory of the VX gas attack on the morning of Dec. 2, 1994, but
he was thrown into confusion after feeling nauseated at the time.
Mizuno, 85, said he recovered consciousness in an intensive care unit at a
hospital that evening and told himself he would never die.
It is the first time for Mizuno to testify in the trial of Endo, who faces
attempted murder charges in the case. Endo quit AUM following the
disclosure of a series of crimes allegedly committed by the cult, including
the March 1995 Tokyo subway gas attack that killed 12 people and injured
thousands.
AUM founder Shoko Asahara, whose real name is Chizuo Matsumoto, is now
on trial in 17 charges, including murder and attempted murder charges in
the subway gassing.
