Homyrrh
01-22-2009, 03:33 PM
(from The New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/23/world/asia/23milk.html?ref=world))
January 23, 2009
Death Sentences in Chinese Milk Case
By DAVID BARBOZA
BEIJING — Chinese courts sentenced two men to death on Thursday for endangering public safety in a tainted milk scandal that killed at least six children, according to state-run news media.
Three other defendants, including a top dairy company executive, were sentenced to life in prison, another defendant received a suspended death sentence, and 15 others were given jail terms ranging from two to 15 years.
The sentences were the first to be handed down in one of the worst food safety scandals in China in decades.
The Intermediate People’s Court in Shijiazhuang, in the northern province of Hebei, said the defendants had intentionally produced or sold dairy products laced with a toxic chemical called melamine, which was used to artificially increase protein readings but which caused kidney stones and other ailments in about 300,000 children last year.
Among those to receive the death penalty was Zhang Yujun, a dairy middleman whom the government called one of the “principal criminals” in the scandal. He was convicted of selling 600 tons of melamine-tainted “protein powder” to dairy companies.
Another dairy producer, Geng Jinpin, was also sentenced to death. A third man, Gao Junjie, received the death penalty with a two-year reprieve, which means he could be spared execution.
Tian Wenhua, the 66-year-old former chairwoman of the Sanlu Group, one of China’s largest dairy companies, was sentenced to life in prison for her failure to stop producing and selling the tainted goods even after her company learned the products were flawed.
Ms. Tian was the highest-ranking corporate executive to have been brought to trial in the scandal. She pled guilty in December to charges that she had acted improperly in the case and was also fined about $3 million. All the deaths in the milk scandal so far have been linked to Sanlu, which was found to have sold the milk products with the highest concentrations of melamine.
“The sentence against Tian Wenhua is too harsh,” Liu Xinwei, Ms. Tian’s defense lawyer, said after the verdict. “The maximum punishment for selling counterfeit food product is life imprisonment. I don’t agree her criminal circumstances were that grave and serious involving this case.”
Three other former executives at Sanlu were sentenced to 5 to 15 years in prison. One of those executives, Wang Yuliang, had appeared at the court in Shijiazhuang in December in a wheelchair after what the Chinese state-controlled media said was a failed suicide attempt. He received a 15-year sentence.
Two other men who sold tainted protein powder, Zhang Yanzhang and Xue Jianzhong, were jailed for life under the crime of endangering public safety, the state-run news agency Xinhua reported.
The tough punishments were the government’s latest effort to deal with a scandal that erupted in September, triggering a global recall of Chinese-made dairy products, shaking consumer confidence and devastating the nation’s fast-growing dairy industry.
But parents of some of the victims protested Thursday afternoon outside the courthouse in Shijiazhuang, where Sanlu is based, saying they were dissatisfied with the verdict.
“I feel sorry for them, but they are just scapegoats,” said Liu Donglin, 28, who said his 21-month-old son suffered from kidney stones after drinking tainted milk formula. “The ones who should take the responsibility are the government, like the quality supervision bureau and the Health Ministry. I spent nearly $3,000 taking care of my son and the government only compensated me with $300.”
Some lawyers and victims have accused Beijing of failing to properly regulate the nation’s dairy industry and some believe the government covered up the scandal until after the Beijing Olympic Games in August.
Former Sanlu officials acknowledged in testimony last month that they knew there were complaints and serious problems with their dairy products as early as last May.
But the government has placed the blame on a group of unscrupulous dairy company executives, farmers and middlemen who prosecutors say intentionally sold goods spiked with melamine to save money and increase profits. Melamine, which is used to produce plastics and fertilizer, was often added as a cheap filler or replacement for protein powder.
The dairy scandal has angered many consumers here and is so delicate in China that the government has tried to calm angry protesters and parents. On Thursday, police in Beijing even tried to detain or block parents from traveling to Shijiazhuang to listen to the verdicts. Foreign journalists have also been barred from attending some of the court sessions.
A group of China’s biggest dairy companies agreed late last year to compensate victims of the scandal, but some parents have rejected the settlement offer, saying it was too little and that their children face long-term health problems.
Many children suffered from kidney stones and other ailments after consuming formula contaminated with extremely high levels of melamine.
On Tuesday, a group of lawyers filed a lawsuit with the Supreme People’s Court in Beijing on behalf of the families of 213 children who died or fell ill from drinking tainted milk. The filing is a rare instance in which Chinese lawyers are proceeding with a class-action product liability case.
The lawsuit seeks more than $5.2 million in compensation from 22 dairy companies. The compensation amounts being demanded vary case by case, with the largest being $73,000 for a dead child, said Lin Zheng, an administrator for the lawyer’s group. It was unclear whether the court intended to accept the lawsuit. The Sanlu Group, which was jointly owned by the Fonterra Group of New Zealand, filed for bankruptcy protection late last year. But Thursday, the court in Shijiazhuang fined the company $7.3 million for its role in the scandal.
When I debate myself over the validity of the death penalty...this has never come up.
January 23, 2009
Death Sentences in Chinese Milk Case
By DAVID BARBOZA
BEIJING — Chinese courts sentenced two men to death on Thursday for endangering public safety in a tainted milk scandal that killed at least six children, according to state-run news media.
Three other defendants, including a top dairy company executive, were sentenced to life in prison, another defendant received a suspended death sentence, and 15 others were given jail terms ranging from two to 15 years.
The sentences were the first to be handed down in one of the worst food safety scandals in China in decades.
The Intermediate People’s Court in Shijiazhuang, in the northern province of Hebei, said the defendants had intentionally produced or sold dairy products laced with a toxic chemical called melamine, which was used to artificially increase protein readings but which caused kidney stones and other ailments in about 300,000 children last year.
Among those to receive the death penalty was Zhang Yujun, a dairy middleman whom the government called one of the “principal criminals” in the scandal. He was convicted of selling 600 tons of melamine-tainted “protein powder” to dairy companies.
Another dairy producer, Geng Jinpin, was also sentenced to death. A third man, Gao Junjie, received the death penalty with a two-year reprieve, which means he could be spared execution.
Tian Wenhua, the 66-year-old former chairwoman of the Sanlu Group, one of China’s largest dairy companies, was sentenced to life in prison for her failure to stop producing and selling the tainted goods even after her company learned the products were flawed.
Ms. Tian was the highest-ranking corporate executive to have been brought to trial in the scandal. She pled guilty in December to charges that she had acted improperly in the case and was also fined about $3 million. All the deaths in the milk scandal so far have been linked to Sanlu, which was found to have sold the milk products with the highest concentrations of melamine.
“The sentence against Tian Wenhua is too harsh,” Liu Xinwei, Ms. Tian’s defense lawyer, said after the verdict. “The maximum punishment for selling counterfeit food product is life imprisonment. I don’t agree her criminal circumstances were that grave and serious involving this case.”
Three other former executives at Sanlu were sentenced to 5 to 15 years in prison. One of those executives, Wang Yuliang, had appeared at the court in Shijiazhuang in December in a wheelchair after what the Chinese state-controlled media said was a failed suicide attempt. He received a 15-year sentence.
Two other men who sold tainted protein powder, Zhang Yanzhang and Xue Jianzhong, were jailed for life under the crime of endangering public safety, the state-run news agency Xinhua reported.
The tough punishments were the government’s latest effort to deal with a scandal that erupted in September, triggering a global recall of Chinese-made dairy products, shaking consumer confidence and devastating the nation’s fast-growing dairy industry.
But parents of some of the victims protested Thursday afternoon outside the courthouse in Shijiazhuang, where Sanlu is based, saying they were dissatisfied with the verdict.
“I feel sorry for them, but they are just scapegoats,” said Liu Donglin, 28, who said his 21-month-old son suffered from kidney stones after drinking tainted milk formula. “The ones who should take the responsibility are the government, like the quality supervision bureau and the Health Ministry. I spent nearly $3,000 taking care of my son and the government only compensated me with $300.”
Some lawyers and victims have accused Beijing of failing to properly regulate the nation’s dairy industry and some believe the government covered up the scandal until after the Beijing Olympic Games in August.
Former Sanlu officials acknowledged in testimony last month that they knew there were complaints and serious problems with their dairy products as early as last May.
But the government has placed the blame on a group of unscrupulous dairy company executives, farmers and middlemen who prosecutors say intentionally sold goods spiked with melamine to save money and increase profits. Melamine, which is used to produce plastics and fertilizer, was often added as a cheap filler or replacement for protein powder.
The dairy scandal has angered many consumers here and is so delicate in China that the government has tried to calm angry protesters and parents. On Thursday, police in Beijing even tried to detain or block parents from traveling to Shijiazhuang to listen to the verdicts. Foreign journalists have also been barred from attending some of the court sessions.
A group of China’s biggest dairy companies agreed late last year to compensate victims of the scandal, but some parents have rejected the settlement offer, saying it was too little and that their children face long-term health problems.
Many children suffered from kidney stones and other ailments after consuming formula contaminated with extremely high levels of melamine.
On Tuesday, a group of lawyers filed a lawsuit with the Supreme People’s Court in Beijing on behalf of the families of 213 children who died or fell ill from drinking tainted milk. The filing is a rare instance in which Chinese lawyers are proceeding with a class-action product liability case.
The lawsuit seeks more than $5.2 million in compensation from 22 dairy companies. The compensation amounts being demanded vary case by case, with the largest being $73,000 for a dead child, said Lin Zheng, an administrator for the lawyer’s group. It was unclear whether the court intended to accept the lawsuit. The Sanlu Group, which was jointly owned by the Fonterra Group of New Zealand, filed for bankruptcy protection late last year. But Thursday, the court in Shijiazhuang fined the company $7.3 million for its role in the scandal.
When I debate myself over the validity of the death penalty...this has never come up.