China: Defender jailed for campaigning on compensation for milk contamination
Event- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Nov 11, 2010
- Event Description
A Chinese human rights defender who campaigned for compensation for victims of a 2008 contaminated baby milk scandal has been jailed for two-and-a-half years. Zhao Lianhai, whose child was among the 300,000 made ill by the milk, was convicted of inciting social disorder. Zhao Lianhai founded the website, �_Home for the Kidney Stone Babies", an online space set up to collect and provide information for the parents of children who became ill after drinking contaminated milk. On 13 November 2009, Zhao Lianhai was detained on suspicion of making a public disturbance. He was tried in a closed court on 30 March 2010 in a trial which lasted six hours. He pleaded not-guilty to the charges. Mr Zhao's lawyer, Mr Li Fanping, stated that Zhao Lianhai plans to appeal the verdict and will begin a hunger strike in protest against the sentence.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Active
- Event Location
Latitude: 39.90421
Longitude: 116.40741
- Event Location
- Summary for Publications
A Chinese human rights defender who campaigned for compensation for victims of a 2008 contaminated baby milk scandal has been jailed for two-and-a-half years. Zhao Lianhai, whose child was among the 300,000 made ill by the milk, was convicted of inciting social disorder. Zhao Lianhai founded the website, �_Home for the Kidney Stone Babies", an online space set up to collect and provide information for the parents of children who became ill after drinking contaminated milk. On 13 November 2009, Zhao Lianhai was detained on suspicion of making a public disturbance. He was tried in a closed court on 30 March 2010 in a trial which lasted six hours. He pleaded not-guilty to the charges. Mr Zhao's lawyer, Mr Li Fanping, stated that Zhao Lianhai plans to appeal the verdict and will begin a hunger strike in protest against the sentence.