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Wrongly Convicted Database Record
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Charge: |
Extortion |
Sentence: |
5 years |
Years Imprisoned: |
4 |
Year Crime: |
2008 |
Year Convicted: |
2010 |
Year Cleared: |
2017 |
U.S. State or Country of Crime: |
China |
County or Region of Crime: |
Guangdong |
City of Crime: |
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Result: |
Judicially Exonerated |
Summary of Case: |
"Guo Li was wrongly convicted in January 2010 of extortion in China's Guangdong Province. Li's prosecution was based on going to the news media after the milk distributor Scient denied his request for $3 million in compensation after his daughter was diagnosed with a kidney problem in 2008 after consuming the company's baby milk formula. In July 2009 the company agreed to pay Li 400,000 yuan (US$58,000) compensation on the condition he waived his right to additional compensation. Li's daughter was one of more than 300,000 babies on the Chinese mainland who became ill from baby formula tainted with melamine. Six babies died. Li resisted efforts by the police to encourage him to confess to extortion. After his conviction in the Chaoan County People's Court, Guo Li was sentenced to five years in prison. Li's appeal was denied in December 2010. After Li's release from prison in 2014, with the support of his parents, he successfully petioned the Guangdong Provincial Higher People's Court to rehear his case. In June 2015 the court set-aside his conviction and ordered his retrial on the basis the facts of his case were unclear, there was insufficient evidence to support that he used threats for material gain, and the trial court had made procedural errors. On April 7, 2017 the Guangdong Provincial Higher People's Court acquitted Guo Li on the basis he had the right to pursue additional compensation for the company selling him defective baby formula. Li couldn't have been attempting to extort money from Scient because the media didn't learn anything from Li about the tainted baby formula produced by the company that wasn't already publicly known. The court said their ruling allows Li, who works as a simultaneous interpreter, to apply for state compensation for his years of wrongful imprisonment. Li has said that during his imprisonment he was given moldy food and dirty ditch-water by the prison authorities as part of their unsuccessful campaign to pressure him to "admit to his crimes." The tainted milk products scandal in China began with revelations of contaminated dairy products from the Sanlu Group. A dairy farmer and a milk salesman were executed in 2009 for their roles in the Sanlu case. Sanlu's general manager, Tian Wenhua, was given a life sentence in 2009 on charges of producing and selling fake or substandard products. A total of 21 people related to Sanlu were convicted in connection with the scandal." |
Conviction Caused By: |
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Innocence Proved By: |
"On April 7, 2017 the Guangdong Provincial Higher People's Court overturned Guo Li's conviction on the basis he had the right to pursue additional compensation for the company selling him defective baby formula. Li couldn't have been attempting to extort money from Scient because the media didn't learn anything from Li about the tainted baby formula produced by the company that wasn't already publicly known." |
Defendant Aided By: |
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Compensation Awarded: |
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Was Perpetrator Identified? |
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Age When Imprisoned: |
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Age When Released: |
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Sex: |
Male |
Skin/Ethnicity: |
Chinese |
Information Source 1: |
"Father of tainted formula victim exonerated in extortion case, By Xinhua (Source), Shanghai Daily, April 7, 2017" |
Information Location 1: |
http://www.shanghaidaily.com/nation/Father-of-tainted-formula-victim-exonerated-in-extortion-case/shdaily.shtml |
Information Source 2: |
"Court to Order Retrial in Case of Milk Scandal Parent Activist, By Qiao Long, Radio Free Asia, June 15, 2015" |
Information Location 2: |
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/china/retrial-06152015131952.html |
Information Source 3: |
"Two sentenced to death over China melamine milk scandal, By Richard Spencer (in Beijing), The Telegraph, January 22, 2009" |
Information Location 3: |
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/4315627/Two-sentenced-to-death-over-China-melamine-milk-scandal.html |
Information Source 4: |
"Court in China’s Guangdong Acquits Milk-Scandal Father Jailed For Five Years, nepal24hours.com, April 8, 2017" |
Information Location 4: |
http://www.nepal24hours.com/court-in-chinas-guangdong-acquits-milk-scandal-father-jailed-for-five-years/ |
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Information Location 5: |
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Comments About Case: |
Innocents Database Created and Maintained by Hans Sherrer innocents@forejustice.org