Focus shifts to executions in Japan's 1995 sarin gas attack

TOKYO – More than two decades after poison gas attacks in Tokyo's subways killed 13 people, the stage has shifted to the execution of 13 people convicted in the crime.

The Supreme Court rejected an appeal in the final case last week, so the condemned are no longer needed as potential trial witnesses. The court upheld a life sentence for Katsuya Takahashi, a driver in the attack who was convicted of murder. He was a follower of the Aum Shinrikyo cult that carried out the attacks.

Shizue Takahashi, the wife of a subway stationmaster who died in the attack, told reporters that the end of the trials is a reminder of the horror of the crime. She said the focus for the families of the victims has shifted to the executions.