Uzbek court sentences 23 over contaminated cough syrup deaths

FILE PHOTO: Defendant Singh Raghvendra Pratar, an executive of Quramax Medical, a company that sold medicines produced by India's Marion Biotech in Uzbekistan, stands inside an enclosure for defendants during a court hearing in the case of child deaths linked to contaminated cough syrups, in Tashkent, Uzbekistan August 16, 2023. REUTERS/Stringer/File Photo

TASHKENT (Reuters) - A court in Uzbekistan sentenced 23 people to prison terms on Monday over the deaths of 68 children linked to contaminated cough syrups produced by India's Marion Biotech, following a six-month-long trial.

The Central Asian nation had previously reported 65 deaths linked to the medicines, but last month the prosecutors at the Tashkent city court updated the death toll and said two more people had been charged during the hearings.