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Zhao Lianhai's five-year-old son holds a sign outside the court room that reads, 'Daddy, come home.' (Citizens' Actions (gongminxingdong))
The father of one of the victims of China’s toxic milk-powder scandal has been charged with “inciting social upheaval” because he demanded medical help for his child.
Zhao Lianhai, a Beijing resident whose son developed kidney stones after consuming melamine-tainted milk powder, founded a citizen’s group called “Kidney Stone Babies” that advocates for the rights of the victims and their families. Because of his vocal public activism, he has been nicknamed “The Father of Kidney Stone Babies.”
Zhao’s proactive involvement in assisting others who were unhappy with the way the government handled their cases made him a target for investigation by the Daxing District police.
He was arrested and has been held in custody since last November. His first court appearance was on March 30.
The trial, held at the Daxing District Court in Beijing, was closed to the public. Li Xuemei, Zhao’s wife, had asked to attend but was turned down. No verdict was announced at the conclusion of the trial.
During the entire five-hour proceedings, Zhao was kept shackled at the ankles. According to Peng Jian, Zhao's defense attorney, Zhao was also handcuffed when he was first taken into the courtroom in the morning. Only after Peng protested were the handcuffs removed; the ankle shackles remained.
Zhao pleaded not guilty to the charge of inciting social upheaval. Peng and Zhao's other defense attorney Mr. Li Fangping told Civil Rights & Livelihood Watch that prosecutors don't have a case as evidence was collected before Zhao was even charged. In addition, most of the prosecution's witnesses are policemen, creating an obvious conflict of interest.
The hearing attracted wide attention among Zhao's supporters and human rights activists. A few dozen supporters waited outside the courtroom during the trial along with several overseas media, including the Associated Press.
Police had cordoned off the area to separate the demonstrators and were using a camera and video camera to keep a record of the demonstrators.
Some supporters held signs that read, “Citizen's Right to Life,” “Rule of Law,” and “Justice.” Some shouted, “Release Zhao Lianlai, Zhao Lianlai is innocent!”
Some demonstrators asked the police, “Do you have children? Do you have a conscience?”
Zhao's wife and son were among the supporters, and both of them were weeping.
Melamine-laced milk powder has been one of the biggest and most tragic toxic food scandals in China to date. Melamine is an industrial chemical that makes milk appear to have a high-protein content. The milk powder was sold widely in China and caused tens of thousands of children to fall ill with kidney-related problems in 2008. Several babies died from kidney-stone complications.
Rights Defenders Routinely Jailed
In a similar case involving children’s deaths, a 55-year-old Sichuan man, Tan Zuoren, known as the “Sichuan Quake Rights Activist,” was convicted in February for probing into the details of the shoddy school buildings that collapsed and killed thousands of school children in the May 2008 Sichuan earthquake.
Tan had also questioned the government’s official count of children killed in the school collapses and went himself to the stricken areas to collect data on student deaths. He drafted a document titled “5.12 Earthquake Student Victims’ Files” and called for an engineering quality survey of school buildings damaged by the earthquake. Tan was sentenced to five years in prison on charges of inciting subversion of state power.
Read the original Chinese article.
