Man gets record-breaking compensation in landmark case

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02:33

In a case which may have broad consequences for China's judicial system, a man who was wrongfully convicted of murder in northeast China's Jilin Province in 1990 was offered record-breaking compensation last week.

The Intermediate People's Court in the city of Liaoyuan ruled that Liu Zhonglin should receive 4.6 million yuan (0.7 million U.S. dollars) for psychological damages and his loss of liberty during his time in prison.

Liu Zhonglin was finally cleared of the crime in April of last year after the court ruled his earlier conviction was based on unclear facts and insufficient evidence. Liu said: "I was acquitted of the crime. I've been waiting for this moment for over 20 years since 1990."

In 1990, a young woman was found dead in a crop field in Dongliao County, Jilin Province. Liu, just 22 years old at the time, was identified as a suspect and detained soon after. He was given a suspended death sentence for murder four years later, a ruling that was later upheld by a higher court.

Horrified, Liu and his family continued to petition the court until the sentence was later commuted to a 25-year prison term. This brought some relief, but they never the less continued the fight to clear his name.

Liu Zhonglin awards a skill banner to Zhang Yupeng, right, for the lawyer's contribution in his case, at Zhang's office in Beijing, April 25, 2018. /VCG Photo

Liu said, "I appealed against the decision every day, every moment since I was put in jail."

Wang Guizhen, Liu's cousin, said, "We had been appealing to the court. But they didn't put the case on file. They said there were too many cases to be put on record."

It was all to no avail. Liu was made to serve his full term. However, his release in 2016 came with news he would finally get his case reheard. A bitter-sweet feeling for Liu, but if he thought his long wait for justice was over, he was mistaken.

Zhang Yupeng, defense counsel for a retrial of Liu's case said: "The case is the longest I've ever handled. There is no remedy for violations in the retrial procedure."

According to China's criminal procedures, retrials should be heard within three months of receiving the application. And this could be pushed out to six months in times of stress.

Zhang said: "We submitted the application for a retrial in September 2015. It should have taken one month at most before the case came to trial. But the case came up on April 25, 2016. The case personnel replied to us that they were waiting for the head of the court to decide the time of the session."

Liu was finally granted compensation of 4.6 million RMB last week for psychological damages and his loss of liberty. He said while the money would bring some consolation, he regretted losing the best years of his life.