Japanese court to punish cult guru's lawyers

Toyko, Japan - A Japanese court has taken the rare step of demanding punishment for lawyers of the doomsday cult guru behind the 1995 subway attack, blaming them for delays in the emotionally charged trial.

The Tokyo High Court filed its demand with the Japan Federation of Bar Associations asking it to take action against Akio Matsushita and Takeshi Matsui, two lawyers for Aum Supreme Truth court founder Shoko Asahara.

It was the first time since 1989 that the Tokyo High Court has sought to punish lawyers, said a court official, who did not know if other courts in Japan had taken similar measures in other cases.

The bar federation is required to punish members within three months unless it challenges the court's demand. The lawyers could face temporary suspension from the bar.

Asahara, a bearded former acupuncturist who preached of a coming violent apocalypse, was convicted of ordering followers to release Nazi-invented sarin nerve gas on rush-hour trains in 1995.

The attack killed 12 people and injured thousands more, making it Japan's worst attack since World War II.

"We filed the procedures today because the two lawyers were responsible for delaying the trial by missing the deadline for submitting an appeal document," the court official said.

The lawyers failed to submit documents in Asahara's appeal trial by an August 2005 deadline as they argued that the guru was mentally unfit and only mumbled nonsense in meetings.

But the High Court said Asahara was sane. The Supreme Court on September 15 threw out Asahara's last chance to escape the gallows, refusing the defense lawyers' motion to resume the trial even though they missed the deadline.

The lawyers were not immediately available for comment.