Innocent man released in China after record 9,778 days in prison
- Belated justice for Zhang Yuhuan whose life was overturned when he was wrongfully convicted of murdering two boys in 1995
- Court apologises and says he has the right to apply for state compensation
A Chinese man who spent almost 27 years in prison has had his conviction overturned, making it reportedly the longest wrongful imprisonment in China’s history.
A court in the eastern province of Jiangxi ruled on Tuesday there was insufficient evidence behind a 1995 ruling that convicted then 26-year-old Zhang Yuhuan of murdering two boys.
Zhang, a villager from the county of Jinxian in the provincial capital of Nanchang, was detained in October 1993. He was handed a suspended death sentence in January 1995 by the Nanchang Intermediate People’s Court, which was commuted to life imprisonment after two years.
In August 2017, Zhang formally applied to the Jiangxi High People’s Court for a retrial, which was granted in March 2019 and adjudicated last month.
“After the verdict, a representative of the Jiangxi High People’s Court apologised to Zhang Yuhuan on behalf of the court, and informed him he has the right to apply for state compensation,” concluded an official summary of the case published on the court’s website.