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Innocent at last, after 13 years of pleading
Source: Xinhua |
January 13, 2009, Tuesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
TWO men who were wrongly jailed on robbery charges have finally been declared innocent after a court in central China corrected a 13-year-old mistake.
A village post office in Biyang County of central Henan Province was robbed of 8,200 yuan (US$1,170 dollars) cash on November 21, 1995. Police arrested post office worker Zou Shujun and his friend Yuan Haiqiang, a mechanic.
The two had been spending the night in Zou's office. Zou was 24 and Yuan 25.
Though a year of detention and interrogation failed to produce adequate evidence, the county court sentenced Zou and Yuan to six years and five-and-a-half years in jail respectively on December 12, 1996. The Intermediate Court in Zhumadian City upheld the ruling.
The real robbers, Zhang Fujun and Zhang Hongxi, were caught in 2002, two years after Zou and Yuan were released.
For 13 years, Zou and Yuan pleaded innocence and petitioned for retrials. In their repeated petitions to the courts and media, they claimed to have been beaten up and forced to confess to a crime they did not commit.
Their pleas fell on deaf ears until August 2008, when the Intermediate Court in Zhumadian City demanded a retrial under pressure from the provincial legislature.
The Biyang County Court reheard the case on December 30, and declared them innocent.
Last week, the intermediate court said three of its officials had been penalized for wrongly jailing the two men. Yuan Changsheng, an official with the county court, was also penalized.
Zou and Yuan are expected to receive a total of 360,000 yuan in compensation.
A village post office in Biyang County of central Henan Province was robbed of 8,200 yuan (US$1,170 dollars) cash on November 21, 1995. Police arrested post office worker Zou Shujun and his friend Yuan Haiqiang, a mechanic.
The two had been spending the night in Zou's office. Zou was 24 and Yuan 25.
Though a year of detention and interrogation failed to produce adequate evidence, the county court sentenced Zou and Yuan to six years and five-and-a-half years in jail respectively on December 12, 1996. The Intermediate Court in Zhumadian City upheld the ruling.
The real robbers, Zhang Fujun and Zhang Hongxi, were caught in 2002, two years after Zou and Yuan were released.
For 13 years, Zou and Yuan pleaded innocence and petitioned for retrials. In their repeated petitions to the courts and media, they claimed to have been beaten up and forced to confess to a crime they did not commit.
Their pleas fell on deaf ears until August 2008, when the Intermediate Court in Zhumadian City demanded a retrial under pressure from the provincial legislature.
The Biyang County Court reheard the case on December 30, and declared them innocent.
Last week, the intermediate court said three of its officials had been penalized for wrongly jailing the two men. Yuan Changsheng, an official with the county court, was also penalized.
Zou and Yuan are expected to receive a total of 360,000 yuan in compensation.
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