Zhao Lianhai , who helped families seek justice after their children became ill from drinking melamine-laced milk, was jailed for two and a half years for 'provoking quarrels and making trouble' by a Beijing court yesterday, sparking outrage among his supporters.
Zhao, 38, was convicted by the Daxing District People's Court for 'inciting and gathering crowds to protest'. The verdict said Zhao and others had 'chanted slogans and gathered illegally to stir trouble' and seriously disrupted the social order.
His lawyer, Li Fangping , said the jail term was unusually severe, compared with sentences for similar cases, which are typically six to eight months. Zhao has already been detained for nearly a year.
'It's an attempt to suppress the tainted milk victims' human rights activities,' Li said outside the court. He added that Zhao will appeal. Li said Zhao was furious upon hearing the sentence and took off his prisoner's uniform and slammed it on the judge's desk.
'I'm innocent! I have done no wrong!' he quoted Zhao as saying. Zhao vowed he would go on a hunger strike to protest against the verdict.
The verdict mentioned incidents for which Zhao, himself a father of one of the victims of the milk scandal and the founder of the online support group Kidney Stone Babies, was being punished.