Chinese court jails nine for dumping tens of thousands of tonnes of refuse in Yangtze toxic waste scandal
- Defendants given sentences ranging from 18 months to six and a half years for one of the biggest environmental scandals in recent years
Nine men in eastern China have been jailed for up to six and a half years for dumping tens of thousands of tonnes of rubbish near the mouth of the Yangtze, including toxic waste that threatened to poison the water supply of a nearby city.
The case was one of the biggest environmental pollution scandals in recent years and triggered a national outcry.
State broadcaster CCTV reported that an unlicenced contractor had thrown more than 20,000 tonnes of household refuse, including large amounts of toxic waste, into the river near Taicang, a city that borders Shanghai, in December 2016.
They also illegally buried almost 20,300 tonnes of poisonous waste in Zhejiang and Anhui provinces, prosecutors said.
On Wednesday Changshu People’s Court in Jiangsu province sentenced the three ringleaders – surnamed Ni, Zhou and Zhang – to jail terms of six and a half years, five years, and four years and three months respectively. They were also given fines of ranging from 400,000 yuan to 1 million yuan (US$58,000 to US$145,000).