Man charged with blaming Coca Cola for poisoning
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A man who was allegedly poisoned by his mistress stood trial in Beijing Monday for trying to pin it on Coca Cola.
The defendant, Ma Sai, denied the charges in Xicheng district court saying he made a mistake and did not commit a crime, according to the Beijing News.
It is the first time any individual was prosecuted for damaging the image of a brand name in China, said the paper.
Ma, 22, was poisoned by mercury after drinking a tin of Sprite on the night of November 7 last year while dining with two friends, including his colleague and lover Liu Xiaojing. He blamed it on Coca Cola, the soft drink makers.
The can was sent to a testing center to see whether the beverage was tampered with.
Results came back negative, the report said.
Police arrested Ma this March.
Ma admitted that Liu has put the mercury into the drinks and the couple later conspired to hide the truth, according to the report.
Liu, who is seven years older than Ma and married with children, accused him of being unfaithful and took revenge.
Gao Xingyuan, a security guard with a background in biomedicine, told Liu to use mercury.
The day after he was poisoned, Ma told Liu to lie to the police so that they could get compensation from Coca Cola, police found.
Yi Shenghua, Ma's defense lawyer, was quoted as saying by Beijing-based Legal Mirror that Ma wrote an apology to Coca Cola but the company did not accept the letter.
Liu and Gao were also detained and will be tried Tuesday for attempted murder.
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