2015-06-15
Guo Li’s identity card issued by the China Disabled Persons’ Federation.
Photo courtesy of Guo Li
A court in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong has cast doubts over the jailing of Guo Li, a father who campaigned for compensation for babies and infants sickened by the 2008 melamine-tainted milk scandal, he told RFA on Monday.
Guo Li, a simultaneous interpreter, was handed a five-year sentence by a court in Guangdong’s Chaozhou in 2010 for “extortion” after he launched a campaign for compensation from Guangzhou-based infant formula maker Scient after his child got kidney stones.
After his release last year, Guo lodged an appeal with the Guangdong Provincial High Court, which recently issued a judgment highly critical of the original decision.
“They were of the opinion that the facts of the case were unclear, there was insufficient evidence, the [court of first instance] had broken two regulations, and that the case against me was inconclusive,” Guo said.
“The Guangdong High People’s Court ordered my re-arraignment … which my lawyer told me is lawyer-speak for ordering a retrial,” he said.
Guo welcomed the news, in spite of suffering ongoing mental and physical health problems he attributes to maltreatment including poor food and dirty water in prison.
“This should be excellent news, but we still have to wait for the final judgment, which they could hand down directly, or they could order a fresh trial,” he said.
The provincial court found insufficient evidence to prove that Guo had used threats to extort material gains from the company, according to the judgement.
“The appeal meets the criteria for a retrial,” it said. “This court will proceed with an arraignment in accordance with article 242, clause 2 of the Criminal Procedure Law of the People’s Republic of China.”
Melamine scandal
Guo’s child was one of 300,000 made ill by infant formula milk laced with the industrial chemical melamine, which saw a total of 21 people convicted for their roles in the scandal, two of whom were executed.
The government said after the 2008 scandal that it had destroyed all tainted milk powder, but reports of melamine-laced products have occasionally re-emerged.
Guo detailed three years of harsh treatment during his prison sentence, as the authorities put pressure on him to “admit to his crimes.”
“They kept hassling me to plead guilty and sign a document, so I could get an early release,” Guo told RFA. “I thought it was very strange … and I didn’t do it. I stuck to my guns.”
“During that period, of course, I had a lot of beatings and a lot of solitary confinement,” he said. “They held me in isolation.”
In earlier interviews, Guo told RFA that he was held in a cell measuring little more than one meter across and deprived of food and water, and given moldy food and dirty ditch-water instead.
He said he attributes his mental and physical health problems to this experience.
“My memory [has been affected], and there have been very big changes in my personality,” Guo said. “Sometimes I have angry outbursts towards my family, and I feel as if I am outside my own body, and I haven’t the energy to do the things I’d like to do.”
“I have no way to find work, because I am now designated a disabled person,” Guo said, adding that he has been recognized as disabled by the China Disabled Persons’ Federation.
