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June 1, 2010

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7-year damages bid fails

TWO men in Hebei Province who spent 15 years in custody before being found not guilty said they lost their last hope after seven futile years of seeking compensation.

Liu Junhai and Liu Yintang, villagers in Hebei's Linzhang County, were seized by police in 1988 as suspects who burned down a relative's house and killed three people in it, Yanzhao Metropolis Daily reported yesterday.

The two confessed only days after being taken into custody. They said the confessions were induced by torture.

They were kept in the same cell and made one scratch on the cell wall for every day they spent in it. It never occurred to them that they would have to make 5,444 scratches before being finally let out with a not-guilty verdict in 2003.

The two said they have been asking for national compensation, but the authorities kept shifting responsibility.

"The county court told us to sue the prosecutors, and the prosecutors pushed us to Hebei Higher People's Court, and the higher court again told us to seek the compensation from the county prosecutors," said their lawyer Gao Shiyou, who added that the legal process was exhausted and not a cent was paid.




 

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