Cash for 2 long jailed but cleared
By Wang Xiang |
June 12, 2010, Saturday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
TWO men who were in custody for 15 years before they were found not guilty finally received 1.2 million yuan after a seven-year battle for compensation.
The compensation delivered by Handan City Intermediate People's Court to Liu Junhai and Liu Yintang came almost a week after the two told reporters that they had lost hope after all legal avenues were exhausted in the marathon legal battle, the Yanzhao Metropolis Daily reported yesterday.
Local prosecutors charged them with arson and murder in 1988 after four people died and one was injured in a house blaze.
Police following only villagers' rumors nabbed the pair months later.
Liu Junhai, only 18 then, confessed he was guilty days after being taken into custody. Later, Liu Yintang also confessed.
But the legal process became extremely slow after their confession. The prosecutors filed charges 11 years after the Lius were arrested. Both said in court that they were "tortured into confessing their guilt."
It took another four years for the court to declare them not guilty. The warden of their detention house told them they were the country's only two to spend so much time there.
After accepting the compensation, Liu Junhai told the newspaper he almost cried after the seven-year burden was relieved.
Meanwhile, public hearing started on another similar case on Thursday in south China's Shenzhen to determine whether Zhang Shangqiang, who spent 211 days in a detention house before a court found him not guilty, qualified for national compensation.
Shenzhen prosecutors formerly denied his compensation bid, saying the arrest was justified because police nabbed Zhang when he was fighting with his neighbors with a knife in his hand.
Zhang insisted he was only trying to stop the neighbors from fighting. Most experts supported Zhang's appeal for compensation during the hearing, the Guangzhou Daily reported yesterday.
The compensation delivered by Handan City Intermediate People's Court to Liu Junhai and Liu Yintang came almost a week after the two told reporters that they had lost hope after all legal avenues were exhausted in the marathon legal battle, the Yanzhao Metropolis Daily reported yesterday.
Local prosecutors charged them with arson and murder in 1988 after four people died and one was injured in a house blaze.
Police following only villagers' rumors nabbed the pair months later.
Liu Junhai, only 18 then, confessed he was guilty days after being taken into custody. Later, Liu Yintang also confessed.
But the legal process became extremely slow after their confession. The prosecutors filed charges 11 years after the Lius were arrested. Both said in court that they were "tortured into confessing their guilt."
It took another four years for the court to declare them not guilty. The warden of their detention house told them they were the country's only two to spend so much time there.
After accepting the compensation, Liu Junhai told the newspaper he almost cried after the seven-year burden was relieved.
Meanwhile, public hearing started on another similar case on Thursday in south China's Shenzhen to determine whether Zhang Shangqiang, who spent 211 days in a detention house before a court found him not guilty, qualified for national compensation.
Shenzhen prosecutors formerly denied his compensation bid, saying the arrest was justified because police nabbed Zhang when he was fighting with his neighbors with a knife in his hand.
Zhang insisted he was only trying to stop the neighbors from fighting. Most experts supported Zhang's appeal for compensation during the hearing, the Guangzhou Daily reported yesterday.
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