Innocence announced 18 years after man executed for rape, murder(2)

"The crackdown played a big role in maintaining social stability in the time of economic and social transformation from a planned economy to a market-oriented economy, but the legal departments' work had serious flaws," said Ai Guoping, a lawyer from Hohhot.

Detectives working in the Hohhot public security bureau at the time admitted that during the campaign their work performance was rated by an annual quota on how many criminal cases they uncovered. They were "eager to wind up a case, and the use of illegal punishment and inducement on suspects existed in case investigations."

Under the circumstances, the swift settlement on Huugjilt's case was approved by the higher court despite the fact evidence was "questionable or inadequate," according to the retrial.

Doubts on the case emerged in 2005 when another alleged serial rapist and killer, Zhao Zhihong, confessed to the murder of the woman. 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.

Deputy chief judge Zhao said the legal department had learned a "grieved and profound lesson from the erroneous judgement of Huugjilt's case."

"The court is applying for national compensation for Huugjilt's wrongful sentence," he said.

Through the years, the Inner Mongolia autonomous regional political and legal departments have organized several reviews of the case. In 2011, the regional higher court assigned five judges to form a review penal to prepare for the retrial.

Public consensus was also an important driving force for the court to conduct the retrial and self-inspection.

On Monday, spokesman of the Inner Mongolia higher court Li Shengchen said a group has been set up to seek those responsible for the initial verdict.

SIMILAR CASE

On Friday, a similar review of a 1994 rape and murder case that took place in north China's Hebei Province began in east China's Shandong Province. The off-site review was aimed at clearing doubts about the trial for Nie Shubin, who was convicted and executed for the crime in 1995 at the age of 21.

Like Huugjilt's case, another man, Wang Shujin, apprehended by police in 2005, confessed to the rape and murder in Hebei's capital of Shijiazhuang.

Since 2005, Nie's mother, Zhang Huanzhi, already in her 70s, visited Hebei Provincial Higher People's Court countless times, demanding a review of the case in order to prove the innocence of her son.

Shang Aiyun, Huugjilt's mother, said she has been keeping in touch with Zhang, encouraging the grieved mother to be strong to continue the fight for her son's justice.