To: Michael Olds who wrote (31285 ) 1/3/2000 4:17:00 PM From: long-gone Respond to of 116796
Wednesday December 29 1:16 AM ET Sr. Japan Doomsday Cult Member Free By ERIC TALMADGE Associated Press Writer TOKYO (AP) - A charismatic leader of the Aum Shinri Kyo cult was freed from prison today and vowed to resume his place in the doomsday-preaching group that five years ago attempted to hasten Armageddon with a nerve gas attack on Tokyo's subways. The release comes amid jitters in Japan over a year-end wave of attacks involving other fringe religious groups and a series of fires and explosions linked to ultraleftist radicals. Fumihiro Joyu is one of the highest-ranking members of Aum and one of its only leaders not charged with a role in the 1995 subway gassing. With virtually all of the cult's former leaders, including guru Shoko Asahara, still either on trial or in prison, Joyu was expected to fill a leadership vacuum within what remains a shadowy - and potentially powerful - group. ``It's extremely frightening,' said Kanako Kumamoto, a 24-year-old shop clerk in Tokyo. ``I'm very worried the group will return to its previous terrorist activities.' Attesting to the heightened concern, more than 100 police were deployed around Hiroshima. Joyu, who flew to Tokyo immediately after leaving prison, did not talk with the media but issued a written statement confirming his plans to rejoin the cult. ``I intend to return (to Aum), but as I have just been released from prison, I am completely unaware of the situation around me, and at this point therefore have no comments to make,' the statement said. As he was released from prison, he was greeted by a throng of reporters and a cordon of police. Well-educated and eloquent, Joyu, 37, was the cult's main spokesman as police cracked down on Aum after the March 1995 subway attack, which killed 12 people. In the months that followed, he became one of its most powerful and best-known figures....dailynews.yahoo.com