Nie Shubin files opened to lawyers

Was executed in 1995 for crime other has confessed to

Lawyers of high-profile executed criminal Nie Shubin have been allowed full access to all his case files for the first time in two decades, the High People's Court of Shandong province announced Monday.

"We have received the notice from the court and planned to go to review the files Tuesday. After that, we will give our defense opinions and apply for a retrial," Chen Guangwu, one of Nie's lawyers, told the Global Times.

In 1995, 21-year-old Nie, a native of Hebei province, was executed for raping and murdering a woman in a cornfield in the outskirts of the provincial capital of Shijiazhuang in 1994.

However, Wang Shujin, who was convicted of raping and murdering three women in 1994 and 1995, confessed in 2005 that he raped and killed the victim in Nie's case.

Wang's confession triggered extensive public discussion over whether Nie is a victim of a wrongful conviction.

On December 12, 2014, the Supreme People's Court asked the High People's Court of Shandong Province to reinvestigate Nie's case.

Five judges together with three court staff members interrogated Wang in a detention house in Cixian, Hebei province on Friday, Wang's lawyer Peng Siyuan told the Global Times.

Wang was worried that the judges may not clearly understand his description of the details of Nie's case due to his poor language skills and slow reaction caused by illness, said Peng.

"He is prepared for his death sentence but he doesn't want others to be unjustly blamed for his crime," according to Peng.

After being apprehended by police in Henan, Wang insisted that Nie was innocent and appealed the court's refusal to accept his confession in the first trial in 2007.

The High People's Court of Hebei Province sentenced Wang to death for the murder and rape cases in 1994 and 1995, but overruled his claim of being the murderer of Nie's case on September 27, 2013.

The court stated that Wang's account of Nie's case, including the cause of death, the time of the crime and the height and outfit of the victim did not match the evidence presented by prosecutors.

The Shandong judges did not mention the discrepancies between Wang's testimony and the facts on Friday, Peng said.

Nie's lawyer Chen Guangwu said that the two cases are independent in terms of judicial process, but the close ties between them make it necessary for the lawyers to apply to review all files of Wang's case as well.

Cai Limin, secretary of the Political and Legal Affairs Committee of Shandong Province, was quoted by Nandu Daily as saying that the result of the review of Nie's case "would be soon released after the two sessions in 2015."