TASHKENT (Reuters) – A courtroom in Uzbekistan sentenced 23 individuals to jail on Monday for the deaths of 68 kids linked to contaminated cough syrups produced by India's Marion Biotech, following a six-month trial.
The Central Asian nation had beforehand reported 65 drug-related deaths, however final month prosecutors within the metropolis of Tashkent up to date the demise toll and mentioned two extra individuals had been charged through the audition
The accused, together with an Indian nationwide, confronted jail phrases of two to twenty years. They had been discovered responsible of tax evasion, sale of substandard or counterfeit medicines, abuse of workplace, negligence, forgery and bribery.
Singh Raghvendra Pratar, govt director of Quramax Medical, an organization that sells medicines produced by India's Marion Biotech in Uzbekistan, was sentenced to the longest – 20 years in jail.
Former senior officers who had been accountable for licensing imported medicines had been additionally sentenced to lengthy phrases.
The courtroom determined {that a} compensation of $80,000 (1 billion Uzbek sums) will likely be paid to every of the households of 68 kids who died from the consumption of the syrup, in addition to to 4 different kids who grew to become disabled.
Mother and father of eight different drug-affected kids will obtain $16,000 to $40,000. The compensation cash will likely be collected from seven of the convicts, the courtroom choice mentioned, in keeping with the assertion of the Supreme Courtroom.
(Reporting by Mukhammadsharif Mamatkulov; Writing by Olzhas Auyezov; Enhancing by William Maclean)
