13 January 2009 :

two men were sentenced to death and two others were punished for their involvement in a food poisoning incident in 2007 that killed two people and put 63 others in hospital in the city in February, local media reported. Ke Bizhi was sentenced to death at the Shenzhen Intermediate People's Court, while his associate Zhang Zhenhua was given a 15-year jail term as he provided police with information that led to Ke's arrest, the Southern Metropolis Daily reported. Wang Yingde, who worked for Ke, was given the death sentence with a two-year reprieve, while the scheme's mastermind Zhu Yuanlin got life imprisonment. Ke, Wang and Zhu have filed appeals to the high court. According to prosecutors, Zhu had invested in a market and wanted to eradicate his competition. On Feb 20, he reached a deal with Zhang to poison customers at restaurants in a rival market.