To the quiet sobs of a widow and a roll call of the nearly 4,000 victims, cult leader Shoko Asahara replied Wednesday with silence, refusing to answer charges that he masterminded last year's subway gassing in Tokyo.
At the opening of what has been billed as Japan's "trial of the century," the bearded, long-haired guru rebuffed judges' attempts to ask even simple questions.The long-haired, bearded cult leader refused to answer to the name he was born with, Chizuo Matsumoto, saying: "I abandoned that name." Asked his address, he said: "I don't remember." And asked to make his plea to murder charges, he told the judge: "I won't speak."
Asahara, whose disciples once drank his bathwater to show their devotion, did make one brief mumbled statement near the end of the session.
"I pity those who do not know the truth," he said softly, echoing the language of recruitment pitches for his cult, Aum Shinri Kyo. "I have no concern about things like lack of freedom and pain."
Under Japanese law, the proceedings will continue despite Asahara's refusal to make a plea. He will have another chance later.
Much of Wednesday's opening session was taken up with a dramatic gesture meant to underscore the individual suffering in the subway attack: a solemn reading of the names of 3,789 victims.
It took six hours, including breaks for lunch and an intermission.
Twelve people died and more than 5,500 were injured when sarin nerve gas spread through cars in central Tokyo at the height of morning rush hour on March 20, 1995. Many of the injured still suffer neurological, eye and internal problems, along with psychological scars.