‘Valentine’s Day killer’ freed from death row
Print Edition
A MAN sentenced to death for the murder of his girlfriend 18 years ago has been acquitted, the latest wrongful conviction overturned in the country.
Liu Jiqiang, 52, was found guilty of strangling and stabbing his lover on February 14, 1998, earning him the notorious nickname “Valentine’s Day killer” in the Chinese press.
However, after spending nearly two decades on death row, the Higher People’s Court of northeast China’s Jilin Province dismissed his conviction citing insufficient evidence, the court said on Friday via its Weibo account.
Liu initially admitted to the killing, but his lawyers said his confession was obtained as a result of torture and illegal questioning, according to Xinhua news agency.
He was given the death penalty with a two-year reprieve in December 1999, which in China often means life in prison.
He unsuccessfully appealed his guilty verdict twice, in 2002 and 2003, Xinhua said.
In February, the high court in east China’s Zheijiang Province ordered the release of Chen Man who had been jailed for more than two decades on murder charges.
Of those exonerated in recent years, Chen had spent the longest time in prison, 23 years, state media said.
In 2014, a court in the Inner Mongolia region cleared a man who was convicted, sentenced and executed for rape and murder in 1996 at the age of 18.
The reversal of the verdict came nine years after another man confessed to the crime.
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