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On November 4, 1989, Tsutsumi Sakamoto (坂本 堤 ''Sakamoto Tsutsumi'' April 8, 1956 - November 4, 1989), a lawyer working on a class action lawsuit against Aum Shinrikyo, a controversial and destructive "new religious movement" in Japan, was murdered, along with his wife and child, by perpetrators who broke into his apartment. Six years later the murderers were uncovered and it was established that the assassins had been members of Aum Shinrikyo at the time of the crime. ==Tsutsumi Sakamoto== Tsutsumi was born in Yokosuka, Kanagawa. After he finished Yokosuka High School,〔(ようこそ同級生 ) :ja:神奈川県立横須賀高等学校:ja:同窓会〕 he entered Tokyo University and graduated in law. He worked as a law clerk until he passed the bar exam in 1984 at age 27. From 1987 he worked as a lawyer at Yokohama Law Offices. At the time of his murder, Sakamoto was known as an anti-cult lawyer. He had previously successfully led a class-action suit against the Unification Church on behalf of relatives of Unification Church members. In the suit the plaintiffs sued for assets transferred to the group, and for harm inflicted by worsened family relationships. A public relations campaign in which protesters demanded public attention to their cause was instrumental to Sakamoto's plan, and the Unification Church suffered a serious financial blow.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www1k.mesh.ne.jp/reikan/english/judement/fukuoka/fuku12.htm )〕 By organizing a similar anti-Aum public relations campaign, Sakamoto apparently sought to demonstrate that Aum members, similar to members of the UC, did not join the group voluntarily but were lured in by deception and were probably being held against their will by threats and manipulations. Furthermore, religious items were being sold at prices far greater than their market value, draining money out of the households of members. If a judgment was handed down in his clients' favor, Aum could become bankrupted, thus greatly weakening or destroying the group. In 1988, in order to pursue the class action suit, Sakamoto initiated the establishment of ''Aum Shinrikyo Higai Taisaku Bengodan'' ("Coalition of Help for those affected by Aum Shinrikyo"). This was later renamed: ''Aum Shinrikyo Higaisha-no-kai'' or "Aum Shinrikyo Victims' Association". The group still operates under this title as of 2006. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Sakamoto family murder」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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