TOKYO (AP) -- Three faintly smiling faces stare out from tattered posters hung outside police stations across Japan. Few passers-by stop to look, though all know why police want the fugitives so badly.
Six years since the Aum Shinri Kyo doomsday cult carried out a deadly nerve gas attack on rush-hour commuters in Tokyo -- an act of urban terrorism that killed a dozen people -- the wounds it left on the country have yet to heal.
The cult is still alive and well. Police searching for the three Aum fugitives have long since run out of leads despite a $50,000 reward. And the trial of the cult's guru drags on in a Tokyo court, with no verdict expected for years to come.
``It just drags on and on,'' said Shizue Takahashi, 53, whose husband -- a subway stationmaster -- was killed in the attack. ``I may not be alive to see the end of this.''
Some 5,000 people were sickened during the attack on March 19, 1995, when cultists used umbrellas to poke holes in bags full of concentrated Sarin nerve gas on five busy subway lines.
The cultists were trying to start a chain of events leading to Armageddon, as prophesized by Shoko Asahara, their guru.
Seven followers have been sentenced to death by a lower court -- five just last year -- for crimes including a nerve gas attack that killed seven people in June 1994. Four cultists have been given life sentences.
But Asahara, 45, is still on trial at the Tokyo District Court, more than 180 sessions after he made his first appearance before the judges for allegedly masterminding the attack. Experts say it could take 10 years until a verdict is rendered, and appeals could add several more.
The length of the proceedings has been blamed on the scale of Aum's crimes, allegations that Asahara was involved only indirectly and the unwillingness of some cult members to break their silence.
The case has also underscored the fact that Japan's legal system is notoriously sluggish.
``What really slows things down is the fact that the prosecution doesn't have to put all its evidence on the table in the beginning, so the defense ends up fighting every little point,'' said Masaki Kito, a lawyer representing victims of the cult.
The cult, disbanded in a police crackdown following the 1995 attack, has changed its name and is under new leadership. By some accounts, its membership -- which dwindled from more than 10,000 before the attack to several hundred -- is back up to about 1,700.
Now called Aleph, it has apologized for Aum's crimes and started to compensate victims. A lawyer administering the cult's bankruptcy proceedings said last May that senior Aleph leaders approved a proposal under which they will pay $37.4 million.
One of the group's current leaders, Fumihiro Joyu, was released from prison in December 1999 after serving three years for perjury. Perhaps Asahara's closest follower not linked to the subway attack, Joyu is a gifted speaker with boyish good looks -- a sharp contrast to Asahara's thick features and heavy beard.
Cult members continue to worship Asahara and his teachings, which included ideas from Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity and New Age beliefs, and preached that the end was near.
``The remaining members are the hard core,'' said Nobutaka Inoue, a professor at Kokugakuin University who specializes in new religions. ``Some believe Asahara wasn't involved. What's disturbing is that others accept his involvement, but don't care.''
The cult also has a steady income thanks to donations from the faithful and a chain of discount computer shops that it has run since the Aum days.
Despite its lower profile, the cult periodically finds itself in trouble with the law.
Last year, six members kidnapped Asahara's young son in an apparent leadership struggle. Police discovered plans for making nerve gas in a member's car. And a software company linked to the sect was found to have worked on computer networks for the military and government.
``They're still fixated on Armageddon, and they're very savvy technologically,'' said Raisuke Miyawake, a former organized crime specialist with Japan's national police. ``I consider them to be a threat.''