<div><p>A South Korean court Monday imposed a suspended prison term on a disgraced scientist whose claims of stem-cell breakthroughs rocked the scientific world until his research was found to be faked.</p><p>The Seoul court passed a two-year sentence suspended for three years on Hwang Woo-Suk after convicting him of embezzling research funds and of ethical lapses in obtaining human eggs for experiments.</p><p>It found him not guilty of defrauding private entities that contributed funds to his research.</p><p>Prosecutors had demanded a four-year jail term for Hwang, who went on trial in June 2006, and said they would appeal the ruling that he is not guilty of fraud.</p><p>Judges said he had known that his team "exaggerated or manipulated" some experiments, although they found no evidence he directly instructed them to do so.</p><p>The 56-year-old Hwang, who was impassive as the verdict was read, still retains a loyal following. He later smiled and shook hands with supporters inside the courtroom who clapped and shouted "Doctor Hwang, cheer up!"</p><p>Another crowd of about 100 supporters outside applauded Hwang as he walked out through a crowd of journalists. The court received petitions from 55 lawmakers and others calling for leniency.</p><p>The scientist said his lawyers would decide whether to appeal.</p><p>Hwang shot to fame in 2004 when he published a paper in the US journal "Science" claiming to have created the world's first stem-cell line from a cloned human embryo.</p><p>In a follow-up paper in 2005 in the same journal, he maintained that his team had developed 11 patient-specific embryonic stem-cell lines.</p><p>The claims raised hopes of new treatments for diseases such as cancer, diabetes and Parkinson's.</p><p>The government showered Hwang and his team from the prestigious Seoul National University (SNU) with money and honours. Hwang was awarded the title of "Supreme Scientist".</p><p>But his reputation was tarnished in November 2005 by allegations that he had violated medical ethics by accepting human eggs from his own researchers.</p><p>Hwang apologised for the lapse but the scandal widened with reports from local television network MBC that his entire research was fabricated.</p><p>In January 2006 an SNU investigative team ruled in a report that his findings were faked and said he had produced no stem cells of any kind.</p><p>Hwang was also found guilty of breaching a law on bioethics which bans illegal human egg transactions. "Hwang and his team failed to prove that they were not involved in illegal trading of human eggs," the verdict said.</p><p>The judges said Hwang had misappropriated a combined 830 million won (704,000 dollars) in research funds by using borrowed bank accounts or manipulating tax bills.</p><p>But they said he did not do so for personal profit.</p><p>Hwang's work in creating Snuppy (Seoul National University puppy), the world's first cloned dog, has been independently verified.</p><p>While on bail during the trial, he focused on animal cloning after losing his government licence for human stem-cell research.</p><p>"His brilliant achievements in animal experiments, his sincere repentance and the fact he was already disciplined by his school should be considered," the judges said.</p><img src="http://admatch-syndication.mochila.com/images/ad.gif?aid=61994040&bid=informcom" /></div><div id="copyright"><div>

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