By Caijing staff reporter Zhu Tao

From Caijing Online

The death penalty has been given to three  men standing trial for the involvement in the contaminated milk scandal that broke last September. Tian Wenhua, former chairwoman and general manager of Sanlu Group, the dairy maker at the center of the scandal, received life imprisonment for “producing and selling fake or substandard products.”

On the afternoon of January 22, the Intermediate People's Court in Shijiazhuang announced a death penalty sentence for Zhang Yujun, who sold 600 tons of a mixture containing the industrial chemical melamine to dairy farmers and dealers as a means of boosting protein readings. Zhang's workshop was allegedly China's largest source of melamine and earned him 6.8 million yuan.

Gao Junjie, another melamine producer, received a  suspended  death sentence with two years reprieve.

Besides Tian, another two former deputy general managers of Sanlu, Wang Yuliang and Hang Zhiqi, received 15 years and 8 years in prison, respectively.

Wu Jusheng, former manager of the firm's raw milk department, was sentenced for five years in jail.

The court also sentenced Zhang Yanzhang to life imprisonment for endangering public safety. He was accused of working with Zhang Yujun to buy and resell melamine-tainted powder.

The northern Chinese court handed down a total of 21 sentences in the melamine trial.

In September 2008, reports started appearing that many of the products from China’s largest dairies were tainted with melamine, a chemical that can cause kidney failure. By the time the recall had finished, the tainted products had sickened 300,000 children in China and killed at least six, according to government data.

The families of victims, many of whom were young children and infants, are now seeking for compensation through legal procedures, as well as the establishment of safeguards to prevent something like this from happening again.

On January 16, 213 families filed a lawsuit in China’s highest court against the 22 dairy producers that sold contaminated products. They requested a total of 36 million yuan compensation. 

But the victims’ earlier lawsuits ran aground and was stuck legal limbo. On December 8, 63 victims jointly sued Sanlu in Hebei’s Higher People's Court, asking for about 75 million yuan in compensation. However, the case was rejected by the court, which claimed the scandal was still under investigation.

An attorney representing the families said "we have no choice and have to submit the lawsuit directly to the to the Supreme People's Court." This was done, but the court has yet to give an official response.

Under the earlier compensation plan announced by the government, victims are being offered fixed payments of 200,000, 30,000 yuan or 2,000 yuan, depending on the severity of the poisoning. Families and their lawyers have repeatedly criticized the sum as woefully inadequate, as some of the victims look like they will be hindered for life.

Caijing learned that another 500 families sent a letter of appeal to the Ministry of Health, urging it to reject the compensation scheme.