BEIJING - A Chinese court on Thursday sentenced two men to
death and gave stiff jail terms to 10 others over a milk scandal
that led to widespread poisoning of babies in China and dairy
recalls around the world.
The former head of the dairy firm at the heart of the scandal, Tian
Wenhua, a 66-year-old woman accused of initially covering it up,
was among three people jailed for life, the official Xinhua news
agency reported.
One other person was given a suspended death penalty, a sentence
that routinely gets commuted to life in jail, while six were
imprisoned for terms ranging from five to 15 years.
In all, 21 people have gone on trial in recent weeks for their
involvement in making or selling the contaminated milk that last
year killed at least six babies and left 294,000 others ill with
kidney and urinary tract problems.
The government immediately sought to portray the verdicts as proof
of its efforts to ensure China's food was safe, and that justice
had been served, but victims' relatives accused authorities of
holding show trials.
"They got the penalty they deserved, but I feel sorry about this
whole affair," Liu Donglin, the father of a sickened baby, told AFP
by phone from outside the court in northern China where the
verdicts were delivered.
"I think they are scapegoats. The milk producers' association and
the people in charge of checking the milk should also be
punished."
The two men given the death penalty were found guilty of
endangering public security by adding the industrial chemical
melamine into the milk and then selling it on to middle
men.
The melamine, normally used to make plastics, was added
into watered-down milk to give it the appearance of higher protein
content.
Sanlu Group, formerly headed by Tian, was the first and biggest
dairy producer found to have sold dairy products laced with
melamine.
In all, 22 firms were found to have sold tainted milk.
After the verdicts were announced, the government said it was
making great efforts to improve not only its milk industry, but all
its food products, following numerous safety scandals in recent
years.
"The Chinese government authorities have been paying great
attention to food safety and product quality," foreign ministry
spokeswoman Jiang Yu told reporters.
"China is strictly handling the Sanlu case by law. After the case
broke out, the Chinese government strengthened rules and
regulations and took a lot of other measures to strengthen
regulations and monitor food safety."
Aside from killing and sickening babies in China, the scandal led
to contaminated Chinese dairy products being pulled off shelves
around the world.
It was another major blow to the "Made-in-China" reputation that
has suffered in recent years amid safety scandals over a wide range
of exports, from toys to pet food and dumplings.
In its efforts to ease concerns domestically, the government last
month ordered the 22 Chinese dairy firms to pay 160 million dollars
in compensation to the families of babies that died or fell
ill.
However the families and their lawyers have criticised the sum as
woefully inadequate, with some parents of sick children not being
given any money at all and others receiving just 300 dollars.
Over 200 families last week filed a suit with the Supreme Court,
seeking more compensation.
"They haven't given me any compensation. They haven't even
recognised that my child died because of melamine," said Chang Lin,
a farmer from Chongqing in southwest China whose 18-month-old son
died in August, told AFP this week.
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_asiapacific/view/404183/1/.html
Somehow I feel that killing
another person in this case would not help in
anyway...