The Supreme Truth Sect: First Russian victims

Four Russians were condemned on Wednesday to prison sentences of between three and eight years for illegal possession of explosives and weapons in preparation of terrorist acts in three Japanese cities.

This manic sect is controlled by Shoko Asahara, a nearly blind, obese Japanese lunatic whose main intentions are the destruction of his country’s social fabric. The leader of the sect called AUM Shinrykio (The Supreme Truth), Dmitry Sigachov, was condemned to eight years’ imprisonment by a court in Vladivostok.

Three accomplices will serve between three and six years in prison. These four followers of Asahara were arrested last June in Primorie after having travelled from Moscow, intent on committing terrorist activities in three Japanese cities, namely Tokyo, Sapporo and Aomori. The attacks had the aim of forcing the Japanese government to release Asahara.

Shoko Asahara is most famous for masterminding the terrorist attack on the Tokyo Metro in 1995, in which Sarin gas was released in packed commuter Metro carriages at rush hour. 13 people died but hundreds were permanently affected either physically, with lung lesions, or psychologically, with stress traumas.

The fact is that Aun Shinrikio has committed many more acts than this, which have escaped the attention of the international media outside Japan. Tens of attacks have been perpetrated by this evil and terrorist organisation, on a par with the Chechen bandit extortionists or Osama Bin Laden’s Al Qaeda, what is left of it.

It is alleged that the Russian branch of this evil sect numbers 30,000 followers, although it was banned in 1995. In Japan, the number of members is three times less, at 10,000. In both cases, the fact that the main religions (Orthodox Christian and Shintoism) have failed to reach the majority of the young population in their countries with their messages, means that these turn to alternative ideals which are often controlled by fanatics, who know exactly how to brainwash and captivate disaffected members of other more traditional religions.

The traditional religions are governed by enormous mechanisms of control which act like huge ships in ever-changing currents, the result being that they are totally unable to adapt to immediate needs. This means that as the traditional followers of the traditional religions become older, there are fewer and fewer people to take their place. Others drift into the mists of agnosticism, the extreme of atheism or the evil of religious sects, unable to discern whether the money which is extorted from them is for charitable or evil causes.

As with any other organisation, the traditional religions should learn to adopt and adapt their doctrines and dogmas to a changing world. They have a valid place as guardians of common sense and social equilibrium but they must know how to keep the flame of interest alive.

Timothy BANCROFT-HINCHEY PRAVDA.Ru