TOKYO, May 8 (RAPSI) – The trial of Naoko Kikuchi, a former leader of the Aum Shinrikyo cult who escaped police for 17 years, has begun in Japan, RIA Novosti reported Thursday.

Kikuchi was wanted for alleged involvement in several crimes, including the March 1995 Tokyo metro sarin gas attack and a parcel explosion in the Tokyo city government building in May 1995. She was arrested in June 2012.

Considering the time that has elapsed since the Tokyo metro and other nerve gas attacks, the prosecution lacks material evidence and hence the case of Kikuchi’s alleged involvement in these crimes has not gone to trial. Instead, the prosecution will focus on the explosion in the Tokyo government building.

The court is expected to adopt a verdict in Kikuchi’s case in late June 2014.

In 1994, Aum Shinrikyo members dispersed sarin gas in Matsumoto, Nagano, killing seven people. In March 1995, they released sarin in a coordinated attack on five trains in the Tokyo metro system, killing 13 commuters and injuring 6,300. Police arrested about 30 of the sect leaders, some of whom, including Shoko Asahara, were sentenced to death.

Three of the sect leaders, including Naoko Kikuchi, escaped. Makoto Hirata surrendered himself to the police at 11.50 PM on December 31, 2011. Kikuchi was arrested on June 3, 2012, and the last remaining fugitive, Katsuya Takahashi, was captured on June 15, 2012. In March 2014, Hirata was sentenced to nine years in prison. The date for Takahashi’s trial has not been set yet.

Aum Shinrikyo (Supreme Truth) was set up in 1987 by Chizuo Matsumoto (aka Shoko Asahara). It combined Buddhist and Hindu meditation practices and apocalyptic teachings and was believed to have between 30,000 and 50,000 followers, with more than 10,000 members in Russia, where Aum was engaged in missionary activity and economic enterprise. The sect was banned worldwide in 1995, with Russia leading the crackdown.

Now operating under the name of Aleph, the cult is still in business and is believed to have between 1,000 and 2,000 members in Japan.

Thirteen high-ranking Aum members, including its founder, Shoko Asahara, currently await execution on death row for their crimes.