Family values under threat

Chinese media reported on May 12 that the three sons of an elderly woman who was found starved to death in April last year have appealed against their prison sentences.

The three were found guilty of abandonment in Tongzhou court, southeast of Beijing, and sentenced to between two and three years in prison.

They were charged under the law on elder rights protection passed in 1996, which stipulates that children must provide financial security, daily necessities and emotional stability to their parents in their old age. The law is being revised.