Prison shock for milk campaigner
Source: Shanghai Daily |
November 12, 2010, Friday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
A FATHER who campaigned for compensation for his five-year-old son and another 300,000 children who became ill after drinking tainted milk in 2008 has been sentenced to two and a half years in jail for inciting social disorder.
Zhao Lianhai, a 38-year-old former employee of a newspaper published by China's General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, had pleaded not guilty on Wednesday in Beijing.
His lawyer Li Fangping said they will appeal as the sentence is "too harsh." Zhao's wife, Li Xuemei, said it was "unacceptable."
Zhao had pushed for greater compensation for victims and their families after the 2008 scandal that shocked China.
"We'd expected it to be much less than that. It is such a harsh sentence," Li Fangping said.
"The crimes he was accused of were nothing more than what regular citizens would do to defend their rights."
Zhao, a Beijing resident whose young son was among the nearly 300,000 children made ill by melamine-tainted milk, vowed to appeal and is said to have begun a hunger strike in protest at the verdict.
Zhao set up an online forum to share information about the poisonings in 2008 after his son, then aged three, was diagnosed with kidney stones.
He was accused of using the protest against the milk scandal as an excuse to organize illegal gatherings in several places in Shijiazhuang City and Beijing from 2008 until last year, reported Modern Express yesterday.
Zhao was also accused of inciting crowds to shout slogans in front of the building of the Beijing Public Security Bureau, on August 4, last year.
Zhao was detained on November 13, last year.
Six children died and hundreds of thousands were made ill by baby formula tainted with melamine, which can cause kidney stones and kidney failure.
The industrial chemical, which is used in the manufacture of plastics and fertilizer, was added to watered-down milk to increase profits and fool inspectors testing for protein.
Several dairy industry figures were prosecuted and punished, including three people who received death sentences.
Zhao Lianhai, a 38-year-old former employee of a newspaper published by China's General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, had pleaded not guilty on Wednesday in Beijing.
His lawyer Li Fangping said they will appeal as the sentence is "too harsh." Zhao's wife, Li Xuemei, said it was "unacceptable."
Zhao had pushed for greater compensation for victims and their families after the 2008 scandal that shocked China.
"We'd expected it to be much less than that. It is such a harsh sentence," Li Fangping said.
"The crimes he was accused of were nothing more than what regular citizens would do to defend their rights."
Zhao, a Beijing resident whose young son was among the nearly 300,000 children made ill by melamine-tainted milk, vowed to appeal and is said to have begun a hunger strike in protest at the verdict.
Zhao set up an online forum to share information about the poisonings in 2008 after his son, then aged three, was diagnosed with kidney stones.
He was accused of using the protest against the milk scandal as an excuse to organize illegal gatherings in several places in Shijiazhuang City and Beijing from 2008 until last year, reported Modern Express yesterday.
Zhao was also accused of inciting crowds to shout slogans in front of the building of the Beijing Public Security Bureau, on August 4, last year.
Zhao was detained on November 13, last year.
Six children died and hundreds of thousands were made ill by baby formula tainted with melamine, which can cause kidney stones and kidney failure.
The industrial chemical, which is used in the manufacture of plastics and fertilizer, was added to watered-down milk to increase profits and fool inspectors testing for protein.
Several dairy industry figures were prosecuted and punished, including three people who received death sentences.
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