Improperly jailed man wins extra cash payout
By Wang Xiang |
May 19, 2010, Wednesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
A FARMER from central China wrongly jailed for 11 years after being tortured into confessing to a non-existent murder will receive a 120,000 yuan (US17,572) compensation sweetener after he threatened to sue a local government.
Court officials and police officers from Shangqiu City in Henan Province agreed to add the amount to the original 650,000 yuan package for Zhao Zuohai, whose so-called victim turned up very much alive earlier this month.
The money would be paid out within a week, Oriental Morning Post reported yesterday.
Zhao received his initial compensation last Thursday but said he regretted taking the amount after a night's sleep.
Zhao said court officials came to his home at 11pm last Thursday, "lectured him for three hours" and made him sign the compensation contract at 2am when he was "very confused," People's Daily reported.
After Zhao's conviction, his wife remarried, two of his four children were given up for adoption and his house collapsed.
Zhao said he wanted to use the compensation money wisely and to be reunited with his children.
Zhao's brother, Zhao Zhenju, said the family was satisfied with the new deal and would not seek another 650,000 yuan for mental distress as previously planned.
Police officers reportedly beat Zhao up daily for more than a month in 1999 to make him confess to the murder he did not commit.
They forced him to sit on a standing beer bottle, let off firecrackers on his head, gave him drugs and threatened to shoot him.
Prosecutors in Henan have detained two police officers for allegedly torturing Zhao.
Three officers participated in the torture and one is still at large.
Three judges were also ordered to take extended leave as the Zhao case is investigated, Xinhua news agency reported.
The judges sent Zhao to death row with a two-year reprieve, a penalty later commuted to 29 years in jail.
Court officials and police officers from Shangqiu City in Henan Province agreed to add the amount to the original 650,000 yuan package for Zhao Zuohai, whose so-called victim turned up very much alive earlier this month.
The money would be paid out within a week, Oriental Morning Post reported yesterday.
Zhao received his initial compensation last Thursday but said he regretted taking the amount after a night's sleep.
Zhao said court officials came to his home at 11pm last Thursday, "lectured him for three hours" and made him sign the compensation contract at 2am when he was "very confused," People's Daily reported.
After Zhao's conviction, his wife remarried, two of his four children were given up for adoption and his house collapsed.
Zhao said he wanted to use the compensation money wisely and to be reunited with his children.
Zhao's brother, Zhao Zhenju, said the family was satisfied with the new deal and would not seek another 650,000 yuan for mental distress as previously planned.
Police officers reportedly beat Zhao up daily for more than a month in 1999 to make him confess to the murder he did not commit.
They forced him to sit on a standing beer bottle, let off firecrackers on his head, gave him drugs and threatened to shoot him.
Prosecutors in Henan have detained two police officers for allegedly torturing Zhao.
Three officers participated in the torture and one is still at large.
Three judges were also ordered to take extended leave as the Zhao case is investigated, Xinhua news agency reported.
The judges sent Zhao to death row with a two-year reprieve, a penalty later commuted to 29 years in jail.
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