Editing Shoko Asahara (section)

===Matsumoto sarin attack===
{{Main|Matsumoto sarin attack}}

On the night of June 27, 1994, the cult carried out a [[chemical weapon]]s attack against civilians when they released [[sarin]] in the central Japanese city of [[Matsumoto, Nagano|Matsumoto]], Nagano. When carrying out the attack, Aum Shinrikyo had two goals; to attack three judges who were expected to rule against the cult in a lawsuit concerning a real estate dispute, and to test the efficacy of its sarin—which the cult was manufacturing at one of its facilities—as a weapon of [[mass murder]].<ref>Kyle B. Olson, "Aum Shinrikyo: Once and Future Threat?", Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Research Planning, Inc., Arlington, Virginia</ref><ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.3201/eid0504.990409|pmid=10458955|pmc=2627754 |title=Aum Shinrikyo: Once and Future Threat? |year=1999 |last1=Olson |first1=Kyle B. |journal=Emerging Infectious Diseases |volume=5 |issue=4 |pages=413–416 }}</ref> Residents of Matsumoto had also angered Asahara by vigorously opposing his plan to set up an office and factory in the city's southern area. Opponents of the plan gathered 140,000 signatures on an anti-Aum petition, equivalent to 70 percent of Matsumoto's population at the time.<ref name="JT14">{{cite news|last1=Murphy|first1=Paul|title=Matsumoto: Aum's sarin guinea pig|url=http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2014/06/21/national/history/matsumoto-aums-sarin-guinea-pig/ |access-date=February 24, 2017|work=The Japan Times |date=June 21, 2014}}</ref>

Aum's original plan to release the [[aerosol]] into the Matsumoto courthouse was altered when the cult members arrived in the city after the courthouse had closed. They decided to instead target a three-story apartment building where the city's judges resided. At 10:40&nbsp;pm, members of Aum used a converted [[refrigerator truck]] to release a cloud of sarin which floated near the home of the judges. The truck's cargo space held "a heating contraption that had been specifically designed to turn "twelve litres of liquid sarin into an aerosol, and fans to diffuse the aerosol into the neighbourhood".<ref name="JT14" />
[[File:Description of Aum Shinrikyo sarin truck.png|thumb|Depiction of the sarin truck]]
At 11:30&nbsp;pm, Matsumoto police received an urgent report from paramedics that casualties were being transported to hospital. The patients were suffering from darkened vision, eye pain, headaches, nausea, diarrhea, [[miosis]] (constricted pupils), and numbness in their hands. Some victims described having seen a fog with a pungent and irritating smell floating by. A total of 274 people were treated. Five dead residents were discovered in their apartments, and two died in hospital immediately after admission. An eighth victim, Sumiko Kono, remained in a [[coma]] for fourteen years and died in 2008.<ref>Seto, Yasuo. "[https://www.opcw.org/news/article/the-sarin-gas-attack-in-japan-and-the-related-forensic-investigation/ "The Sarin Gas Attack in Japan and the Related Forensic Investigation"]. The Sarin Gas Attack in Japan and the Related Forensic Investigation. Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, June 1, 2001. April 18, 2021.</ref> The fatalities also included Yutaka Kobayashi, a 23-year-old [[salaryman]], and Mii Yasumoto, a 29-year-old medical school student.<ref>[[Kyodo News]], "[http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20090628a8.html Matsumoto gassings remembered]", ''[[The Japan Times]]'', June 28, 2009, p. 2. (offline)</ref>