Home at last for an innocent man
Print Edition
CHEN Man, a 53-year-old man freed after 23 years in jail for a crime he did not commit, was back in his hometown yesterday.
More than 20 of his friends were at the airport in Chengdu, capital of southwest China’s Sichuan Province, to greet him following his release from Meilan Prison in Haikou, capital of south China’s Hainan Province.
They were there to escort him home to Mianzhu, a small city 83 kilometers south of Chengdu, and to hold a banquet in his honor.
One after another, they proposed toasts to his health and happiness. But Chen did not drink. After more than two decades in jail, he had lost the taste for liquor.
“We never believed he could kill anyone,” said Wang Daibing, a friend from senior high school.
Chen was arrested in 1992, accused of burning down a house in which a man died. He was later given a suspended death penalty.
But after numerous appeals, a court found there was no evidence to sustain the verdict. The confession which had sealed his fate had been obtained by torture, Chen said.
“After 23 years of struggle, I keep telling myself to control myself and relax,” Chen said as he made his way home.
When he arrived he looked around for anything that seemed familiar. “It’s been 25 years since I left,” he said.
Among the red lanterns adorning roadside stores and spring couplets with auspicious phrases for the upcoming Lunar New Year, he spotted a poster expressing thanks on his behalf for the lawyers who had sought justice for him.
He was sad to see that the house he had left 25 years ago was gone. It had been destroyed in the 2008 earthquake but a new house had been built on the same spot.
Chen’s family welcomed him home by lighting firecrackers.
He could not hold back his tears when he embraced his 84-year-old mother, Wang Zhongyi. “We suffered injustice and earthquake, but all is gone. Now at last, this house will be full of laughter again,” said Wang.
Chen’s father, Chen Yuancheng, also 84, was also there to welcome his son. His room is stacked with books and documents in connection with the case and the many pleas made for Chen’s release.
Many of the items Chen had left behind had been kept for him, awaiting his return.
A tape recorder he bought when he was young was there, along with many of his records.
Before he was jailed, Chen ran a home furnishing company.
While in prison, he tried to learn about the outside world through newspapers and TV. “My wrongful conviction was closely related to the social and judicial environment, as well as the people’s mentality in those years,” he said.
But things had changed over the years, he said. “I’ve seen progress in the judicial system, and the corrections of other wrong convictions convinced me I would one day prove my innocence, too.”
Chen said he was not planning to dwell on his case. “Let bygones be bygones,” he said.
He said he would rather look to the future. “Now that I walk free, I must make sure my heart and soul are free, too.”
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