Courts accept compensation lawsuits over tainted milk

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-03-06 22:30

BEIJING -- The courts in north China's Hebei Province have started taking compensation lawsuits by victims in the tainted milk scandal, said a local court president here Friday.

Tian Wenhua, the former chairwoman and general manager of Sanlu Group, stands trial on Dec 31, 2008. [Xinhua]

Currently 152 people have raised lawsuits at Hebei courts, said Gao Yong, president of the Hebei Provincial Higher People's Court, on the sidelines of the annual session of the National People's Congress, or the parliament.

Ten people who were convicted and sentenced to jail or death in the lawsuits have appealed, including Tian Wenhua, former chairwoman of Sanlu Group at heart of the scandal who was sentenced to jail for life, and a man named Geng Jinping who was sentenced to death under the conviction of manufacturing and selling toxic food.

The melamine contamination of milk have left at least six infants dead and almost 300,000 ill.

Three men have been sentenced by the Shijiazhuang Intermediate People's Court in January to death, including one with a two-year reprieve. Eighteen others including Tian were sentenced to jail ranging from two years to life.

"Some media reports said the courts would not accept compensation cases. That's not true," said Gao.

He said during the past months the courts were waiting for dairy companies to compensate. "Now the companies' compensation have ended. We will accept cases raised by victims who refused to take money from companies and seek compensation via lawsuits."