Trial reopens for rape-murder case with 'convict' executed in 1996

A court in north China on Thursday officially began reconsideration of a 1996 rape and murder case, which may have resulted in the conviction and execution of the wrong man.

The presiding judge with Inner Mongolia Higher People's Court, Bobatu, issued a retrial notice to the parents of Huugjilt, found guilty of the rape and murder of a woman in a public toilet in the regional capital Hohhot on April 9, 1996.

Huugjilt, 18 at the time, was sentenced to death by Hohhot Intermediate People's Court in May 1996. His appeal was rejected, the death penalty was approved by the region's higher court and Huugjilt was executed on June 10,1996.

After his execution, another alleged serial rapist and killer, Zhao Zhihong, confessed to the murder when he was arrested in 2005. Zhao allegedly raped and killed 10 women and girls between 1996 and 2005. He stood trial in late 2006 and no verdict has yet been issued.

President of the higher court, Hu Yifeng, said earlier this month that should there be any errors in the previous ruling, they must be addressed.

"It has been so difficult to wait for the retrial decision," sobbed Shang Aiyun, 62, mother of the dead Huugjilt, in her home. She said she hoped the court would proceed carefully with the retrial and that the verdict would prove her son's innocence.

Huugjilt's parents, unwavering in their belief in their son's innocence, have been petitioning to the country's supreme court and the region's higher court since 2006.

Yan Feng, a friend and colleague of Huugjilt, tells how they heard someone cry out in a women's toilet as they passed by. Huugjilt asked Yan to go with him into the toilet to see what had happened. There they saw a woman's body and immediately ran out. Huugjilt then reported it to police despite Yan's attempts to persuade him to keep quiet.

China's Criminal Procedure Law stipulates that if the evidence on which a verdict is based is found to be questionable or inadequate, a retrial should be held. The retrial will be a purely documentary one and will be completed as soon as possible, said Li Shengchen, spokesman for the Inner Mongolia Higher People's Court, at a press briefing in Hohhot on Thursday.

Chen Guangzhong, professor with the China University of Political Science and Law, said the original sentence will be probably changed in the retrial.

"The retrial should re-verify the evidence to find out weather it was reasonable to sentence Huugjilt to death at that time," Chen said.

Chen said that difficulties exist in the retrial upon Huugjilt's death, including no preservation of the rapist's sperm and possibly coaxing honesty from the case's two investigators.

As for Zhao's case, it is still under investigation, said Li.

In a similar case, Nie Shubin in north China's Hebei Province was executed in 1995 at the age of 21 for the 1994 rape and murder of a woman in the provincial capital of Shijiazhuang. Wang Shujin was apprehended by police in 2005 for three unconnected rape and murder cases, and confessed to the rape and murder of the woman in Shijiazhuang. In that instance the provincial higher court did not believe Wang's claim in a retrial last year and Nie's verdict still stands.

Also last year, a man in the eastern province of Anhui was declared innocent after serving 17 years of a life sentence for the killing of his wife.

The Anhui provincial higher people's court set Yu Yingsheng free when it ruled that in the previous trial, facts about the alleged homicide were unclear and the evidence inadequate.

China's Supreme People's Court started to review all death penalty rulings on Jan. 1, 2007, ending 24 years during which lower courts could issue death sentences and execute criminals without any other approval.

The Communist Party of China made a decision on major issues concerning the rule of law last month and Huugjilt retrial is an indication of how things are changing, said Miao Li, a lawyer in Inner Mongolia.

"I hope a fair trial can reveal the truth of the case and give every citizen a sense of justice and fairness," said Miao.