BEIJING, Dec 26: The former head of the Chinese firm at the centre of the tainted milk scandal, who will stand trial next week, could face the death penalty if convicted, a lawyer said on Friday.

The trial of Tian Wenhua, previously the chairwoman of Sanlu Group, will open on Wednesday at a court in Sanlu’s home city, Shijiazhuang in north China’s Hebei province, an official associated with a provincial court said.

He said other cases involving former Sanlu executives and suppliers had begun on Friday, as the courts began taking over in the case of milk tainted with the toxic chemical melamine that has cost the lives of at least six babies.

“In the most serious scenario where there are death reports, the penalty is imprisonment of at least 10 years, life sentence or even death,” said Beijing-based lawyer Li Xiongbing.

Li is advising a number of potential plaintiffs asking for damages.

Under Chinese law a person can be sentenced to death if he or she knowingly produces or sells food with toxic non-food substances, causing death or serious harm to human health.

Other people going on trial on Friday included six suspects accused of either manufacturing or buying and selling ‘protein’ additives containing melamine or adding the chemical to dairy products, state news agency Xinhua said.

Zhang Yujun was being tried for manufacturing 775 tons of “protein powder” that contained melamine, while another man, identified as Zhang Yanzhang, was being tried for buying and reselling 230 tons of the product, it said.

Four others were being tried for adding the additive to dairy products, it said.—AFP