Kyodo -- The Tokyo High Court has rejected a second plea for a retrial lodged by the family of Aum Shinrikyo founder Shoko Asahara, who is on death row for masterminding the 1995 deadly sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway system, among other crimes, sources said Wednesday.
The plea was filed with the Tokyo District Court following the Supreme Court's rejection of the first request in September 2010. The high court made the decision last Thursday, the sources said.
The district court turned down the second plea last May.
Asahara was sentenced to death in February 2004 for the sarin attack and 12 other crimes. His conviction was finalized after the Supreme Court eventually rejected an appeal in September 2006.
