A Chinese court condemned two men to death and handed a life term to a former dairy boss on Thursday for their roles in the country`s contaminated milk scandal, which ignited public anger and accusations of cover-ups.
The Intermediate People`s Court in Shijiazhuang gave the life sentence to Tian Wenhua, 66, the former General Manager and chairwoman of Sanlu Group Co., the dairy at the center of the crisis. She was the highest-ranking official charged in the food safety scandal.
At her trial in December, Tian pleaded guilty to charges of producing and selling fake or substandard products after infant formula tainted with the chemical melamine was blamed in the deaths of at least six babies and the illnesses of nearly 300,000 others.
The court sentenced Zhang Yujun, 40, to death for running a workshop that was allegedly China`s largest source of melamine, said spokesman Wang Wei. Geng Jinping was also given the death penalty for producing and selling toxic food. A third man, Gao Junjie, was given a suspended death sentence, which is usually commuted to a life sentence.
Image: A woman, whose child died from drinking tainted milk, holds a sign reading `Give me back my child` outside Shijiazhuang Intermediate People`s Court on January 22, 2009. A Chinese court sentenced two men to death for their role in production and sale of melamine-tainted milk that killed at least 6 children and made nearly 300,000 ill.
Text: AP
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