A fugitive former member of the doomsday cult that released deadly sarin gas on the Tokyo subway turned himself in after 17 years in an act that could delay the execution of the group's leader.
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Makoto Hirata, 46, one of Japan's most wanted men, walked into Marunouchi police station in central Tokyo at 11.50pm on New Year's Eve, apparently telling officers he wanted to "put the past behind him".
Hirata was one of three members of the Aum Shinrikyo cult still being sought over the sarin attack on March 20, 1995 which killed 13 people and injured more than 6,000. It remains Japan's deadliest act of domestic terrorism.
Nearly 200 people associated with the cult have since been convicted of offences including murder, abduction and producing nerve gas. Thirteen of those, including cult founder and leader Shoko Asahara, 56, are on death row after being sentenced to hang.
In November, the country's Supreme Court rejected a final plea for clemency from Seiichi Endo, 51, the 13th person to be sentenced to death. The other death row prisoners had been kept alive until the conclusion of Endo's appeal. Its failure appeared to clear the way for all the executions to be carried out.
However, Hirata's voluntary arrest could now put them on hold again as convicted cult members may be needed as witnesses in his trial.
