Couple demand compensation for wrongly-executed son

Li Sanren (2nd R) and Shang Aiyun (2nd L), parents of Huugjilt who was executed in a controversial 1996 rape and murder case, mourn their son in front of his grave in Hohhot, capital of north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Dec 15, 2014. (Xinhua photo)

A couple in north China on Monday announced that they would seek state compensation for the wrongful conviction and execution of their son in 1996.

Li Sanren, father of Huugjilt, who was 18 when he was executed for rape and murder, said on Monday that his family had assigned two lawyers to handle the compensation. The deadline for submitting their compensation claim had not been set, he explained.

On Dec 15, 2014, the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Regional Higher People's Court, quashed Huugjilt's previous conviction and ruled he was innocent of rape and murder, citing that the facts of his case were unclear and evidence was inadequate.

The Intermediate People's Court of Hohhot found Huugjilt guilty of raping and murdering a woman in a public toilet in Hohhot on April 9, 1996. He was sentenced to death and executed in June of the same year.

Doubts began to emerge in 2005 when alleged 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.