Family of wrongly executed man compensated

Li Sanren (L) and Shang Aiyun, parents of Huugjilt, who was wrongly executed for rape and murder at age 18, show the verdict of state compensation totaling more than 2 million yuan (about $322,000) in Hohhot, capital of north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, on Dec 31, 2014. [Photo/Xinhua]

The parents of Huugjilt, an 18-year-old who was executed after being wrongly convicted of raping and killing a woman in 1996, received 2,059,621.4 yuan ($332,116) in state compensation on Tuesday, Xinhua New Agency reported.

The compensation includes funeral expenses, recompense for detaining the young man for 61 days, and compensation for his death and his parents' loss.

The Higher People's Court of the Inner Mongolia autonomous region announced the compensation on Dec 30, 2014.

On Dec 15, 2014, the court overturned Huugjilt's previous conviction and ruled he was not guilty of rape and murder, saying that the facts of his case were unclear and evidence was inadequate. It was 18 years after the man was executed.

The Intermediate People's Court of Hohhot found Huugjilt, a member of the Mongolian ethnic group, guilty of raping and fatally choking a woman in a toilet at a textile factory in Hohhot on April 9, 1996. He was sentenced to death and executed in June of the same year.

The case triggered controversy in 2005 when suspected serial rapist and killer, Zhao Zhihong, confessed to the murder after he was arrested.

Zhao allegedly raped and killed 10 women and girls between 1996 and 2005. He was tried in late 2006, but no verdict has been issued.