China to pay USD 322,000 compensation for wrong conviction

Beijing: A USD 322,000 will be paid as compensation to the parents of a man who was wrongly convicted and executed for rape and murder in 1996 by a Chinese court.

Parents of Hugjiltu,who was found innocent after another man confessed to the rape and murder?of a woman in a public toilet in Hohhot on April 9, 1996, will receive state compensation totaling more than 2 million yuan (USD 322,000), regional higher people's court ruled yesterday.

Huugjilt was found guilty of the crime by the Intermediate People's Court of Hohhot and executed at the age of 18 years in June 1996.

The Inner Mongolia Autonomous Regional Higher People's Court overturned Huugjilt's previous conviction on December 15 and ruled he was not guilty of rape and murder, saying that the facts of his case were unclear and evidence was inadequate.

A number of judicial and police officials faced investigations over the wrong conviction.

Doubts regarding the conviction surfaced in 2005, when suspected serial rapist and killer, Zhao Zhihong, confessed to the murder.

Zhao allegedly raped and killed 10 women and girls between 1996 and 2005. He was tried in late 2006, but no verdict has been issued against the accused.