A Chinese activist who organised a support group for parents of children affected by one of the country’s worst food safety scandals has been sentenced to 2½ years in prison on a charge often used to silence government critics.
一位中国维权人士因为发起支持团体，为中国最严重的食品安全事件的受害儿童父母提供帮助，而被判处两年半有期徒刑，他的罪名经常被用于压制批评政府的人士。
A Beijing court on Wednesday handed down the unusually harsh sentence for “disturbing social order” on Zhao Lianhai, whose young son fell ill in 2008 after drinking baby formula tainted with melamine, an industrial chemical.
北京的一家法院周三以“寻衅滋事罪”对赵连海判以异乎寻常的重刑，赵连海的幼子2008年因食用受到工业化学品三聚氰胺污染的婴儿配方奶粉而患病。
At least six children in China died after drinking melamine-tainted milk and more than 300,000 were left with kidney problems.
至少六名中国儿童在食用受到三聚氰胺污染的奶粉后死亡，超过30万名儿童因此罹患肾病。
The scandal was initially covered up by the local authorities and, allegedly, also a central government ministry to ensure that it did not overshadow the Beijing Olympic Games, which opened at about the same time.
为了确保不对大致同一时间举行的北京奥运会造成阴影，地方政府最初掩盖了这一丑闻，中央政府某部委据称也参与掩盖问题。
Li Fangping, Mr Zhao’s lawyer, said the prosecution’s case revolved around three “crimes”: co-ordinating parents to hold up small signs in front of a court and a factory involved in the scandal, giving interviews to international news organisations in a public place and overseeing a small gathering at a restaurant for affected parents.
赵连海的律师李方平称，检方的指控围绕三项“犯罪事实”展开：组织家长在法庭和涉及丑闻的一家工厂门前高举小幅标语，在公共场所接受国际新闻媒体采访，在一家餐馆组织受害儿童家长举行小型聚会。
Mr Zhao’s sentence appears to be part of a wider crackdown on political activism that has intensified since the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Liu Xiaobo, the dissident now serving an 11-year prison sentence following his calls for political reform.
自因呼吁政治改革而仍在狱中服11年徒刑的异见人士刘晓波获得诺贝尔和平奖以来，政治活动受到了更广泛的压制，对赵连海的判决似乎是这种压制的一部分。
The milk scandal provoked outrage from all sectors of Chinese society, and in the aftermath of the Olympics, Beijing ordered an investigation that found more than 20 companies had been selling products tainted with melamine, which is used in plastics and fertiliser.
毒奶粉丑闻在中国社会各界激起了广泛的愤怒，奥运会之后，北京命令展开调查。调查发现超过20家企业销售的产品中含有用于塑料和化肥的三聚氰胺。
A farmer and a melamine producer were subsequently convicted and executed and a number of senior company executives were jailed.
一个农民和一名三聚氰胺制造商随即被判处并执行死刑，多名企业高管入狱。
After his infant son fell ill from drinking tainted formula, Mr Zhao started a support group and website for parents to share information on health problems and exchange advice on suing the companies involved.
在幼子因食用有毒配方奶粉而患病后，赵连海发起了一个支持团体并建立网站，供患儿家长分享健康问题的信息以及交流起诉涉案企业的建议。
Mr Zhao was first detained in November 2009 as compensation claims started to make their way to the courts and just days before the first visit to China by Barack Obama, the US president.
赵连海最早在2009年11月遭到拘留，当时法庭刚开始受理索赔诉讼，而且就在美国总统巴拉克•奥巴马(Barack Obama)首次访华几天之前。
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