Executed Teenager Found ‘Not Guilty’ 18 Years Later — Huugjilt Case
In April 1996, Huugjilt was found guilty of raping and murdering a woman and was executed. 18 years later, a confessed murderer admitted that he did the act.
On April 9, 1996, Huugjilt discovered the body of a woman called Yang in a factory’s public bathroom. The woman had been raped and strangled, and the official tunnel vision common of wrongful convictions immediately focused on Huugjilt. With conviction quotas to meet, authorities pushed Huugjilt into confessing and bringing the case to a premature close.
It took only 61 days from the time the case was reported to the time Huugjilt was executed. This occurred during the course of China’s comprehensive national effort to combat criminal activity, during which public security, procuratorial agencies, and courts were urged to adopt prompt and severe measures when dealing with criminal matters.
Doubts about the case emerged in 2005, when a serial rapist and murderer, Zhai Zhihong, confessed to authorities that he had committed the crime after being arrested for another crime.
Zhao admitted to committing almost 20 crimes between 1996 and 2005, including six murders and ten rapes, two of which were committed against minors. He was also responsible for a number of robberies, thefts, and misappropriations of property. Most controversially, he acknowledged the 1996 murder of mill worker Yang, a crime for which 18 years old Huugjilt was sentenced to death.
On December 15, 2014, the court overturned Huugjilt’s prior conviction and found that he was not guilty of rape and murder, citing that the circumstances of his case were ambiguous and the evidence was insufficient.
On December 30, 2014, The Higher People’s Court of the Inner Mongolia autonomous region announced the compensation.
Huugjilt’s parents received a total of 2,059,621.4 million renminbi ($332,116 U.S. dollars) in compensation for their son’s death. It covers funeral expenses, compensation for the 61-day detention of the young man, and compensation for death and his parents’ loss.
Hugjilt’s family burned a copy of the exoneration notice at his gravesite to inform him that he had been exonerated.
On January 5 2015, the trial of Zhao began and took place behind closed doors. The serial killer was charged with a total of 21 crimes in total. Zhao himself expressed regret that an innocent man had been punished for his crime, and he voiced his guilt in his courtroom confession. The 42-year-old was convicted of six murders, ten rapes, and at least one robbery case.
On February 9, 2015, Zhao was sentenced to death, ordered to pay 102,768 renminbi to the victims, had all political rights revoked for life, and was fined 53,000 renminbi ($8,464 US dollars).
A total of 27 government officials were sanctioned as a result of the wrongful execution by Inner Mongolia authorities. According to the local procuratorate, Feng Zhiming, the police officer who had led the initial criminal investigation in 1996, was arrested and was being investigated for dereliction of duty, coercing confessions through torture, and accepting bribes.
On October 18, 2016, the Inner Mongolian court sentenced Feng Zhiming, the former deputy police chief of Hohhot, to 18 years in prison.
In addition, the remaining 26 officials got administrative sanctions, including admonitions and demerit records.
Huugjilt was wrongfully executed for a crime for which he was eventually exonerated after 18 years of investigation. As a result, an 18-year prison sentence for Feng Zhiming, widely believed to be responsible for the miscarriage of justice, strikes a symbolic balance. According to Xinhua News Agency, the case was “one of the most notorious cases of judicial injustice in China in the recent decade.”
Sources:
Courts find executed Chinese teenager ‘not guilty’ — BBC News
Family of wrongly executed man compensated — China — Chinadaily.com.cn
China penalizes 27 over wrongful conviction case — China — Chinadaily.com.cn
ExecutedToday.com » 1996: Huugjilt, wrongful execution
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