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

He said other cases involving former Sanlu executives and suppliers had begun 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. The court official declined to disclose more details about the charges and possible penalties.

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 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 tonnes of "protein powder" that contained melamine, while another man, identified as Zhang Yanzhang, was being tried for buying and reselling 230 tonnes of the product, it said.

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

When the milk scandal erupted in September, Sanlu was the first dairy company found to be selling products tainted with melamine, although later several other Chinese firms were implicated.

A judge in Shijiazhuang told AFP on Wednesday that the court had accepted the bankruptcy filing submitted by Sanlu for consideration last week.

Xinhua reported overnight that Sanlu faces net debts of at least 1.1 billion yuan (160 million dollars), citing Wang Jianguo, spokesman with the Shijiazhuang city government.

Fonterra, a New Zealand dairy firm that held a 43 percent stake in Sanlu, said this week Sanlu would be managed by a court-appointed receiver who would sell off the company's assets and repay creditors over the next six months.

Fonterra has written off its 114 million dollar investment in Sanlu, the company said.

The Chinese government has reported that in addition to the six children known to have died from the melamine, another 294,000 were sickened from drinking baby formula laced with the chemical.

The scandal shocked China and tarnished the reputation of its food industry far beyond its borders, as it appeared the melamine was mixed into the milk on purpose to make it appear richer in protein than it was.

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