Berlin, Jul 28 (AP) A German man who was convicted of poisoning his co-workers' food over several years is liable for more than 1 million euros ($1.18 million) in damages, a court ruled Tuesday.

The 59-year-old was sentenced to life in prison in March last year when a court in Bielefeld in western Germany found him guilty of attempted murder. A young man who was one of his victims died in January, four years after he was poisoned and fell into a coma.

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Two other victims suffered serious kidney damage after the defendant, who has been identified only as Klaus O. for privacy reasons, peppered co-workers' food and drinks with mercury and other substances over several years.

A labor court in Bielefeld on Tuesday awarded the relatives of the 26-year-old who died in January 580,000 euros in damages, news agency dpa reported.

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Another colleague who lost a kidney was awarded a half-million euros. Judges also ruled that the perpetrator must pay for past and future damages caused by victims' loss of earnings, estimated at 4,000 euros so far.

The suspect was arrested in May 2018 after surveillance video showed him putting a suspicious powder on a colleague's sandwich at their workplace in the town of Schloss Holte-Stukenbrock.(AP)

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)