VICTIMS of last year's March 20th nerve gas attack on the Tokyo subway marked the anniversary yesterday with calls on the Japanese government to put an end to the Aum Supreme Truth cult.
The cult is held responsible for the gas attack that killed 11 people and injured some 5,500.
"For us, the time has stopped since this day a year ago," Ms Sizue Takahashi (49), wife of a station worker killed in the attack, told a Tokyo news conference.
"To prevent similar attacks occurring again, we want the court to declare Aum bankrupt as soon as possible," said the widow who heads a group which has filed a 790 million yen (£4.7 million) damages suit against the cult.
Earlier, subway workers commemorated the anniversary by laying wreaths and observing a moment of silence for the victims. Police stepped up their campaigns to locate seven Aum fugitives, four of them wanted in connection with the gassing.
Leaflets with photographs of the fugitives were handed to pedestrians and their pictures were also displayed on placards and projected on a giant electronic screen in the Ginza shopping district.
Sarin, a Nazi invented gas 500 times more toxic than cyanide was produced by the cult's scientists and released in rush hour subway trains on March 20th.
Five trains were attacked on three lines heading to Kasumigaseki station, home to many government offices in central Tokyo.
Cult followers pierced plastic bags containing the deadly gas releasing fumes that quickly caused panic among commuters.
At Kasumigaseki station yesterday about 20 subway officials in uniform offered a silent prayer for two assistant station masters who died trying to clear the gas.
A plaque was affixed to a wall in praise of Kazumasa Takahashi (50), and Tsuneo Hishinuma (51). We are proud of the two who saved the lives of many passengers," said the inscription.
Only a handful of people witnessed the ceremony at the usually, crowded station as the anniversary coincided with a national holiday.
