Family of Chinese man cleared of murder exhausted by media glare and accusations
- Former wife appeals for privacy and says nothing can compensate them for their lost years
- Son says mother’s suffering is much more than people can imagine
Then she wanted to return to her quiet life.
Song said she always knew that Zhang was no murderer and should be freed. So his acquittal last Tuesday from the highest court in the eastern Chinese province of Jiangxi did not come as a surprise. Instead, it was more mission accomplished and time to move on after almost three very long decades.
In October 1993, in a village in Jinxian county, the bodies of two boys, aged six and four, were found in a reservoir. The police determined that they had been “murdered”. Zhang, a carpenter from the same village, was taken away by the police.
He spent almost 27 years in prison for murders he did not commit but Song never gave up hope of freeing him. Now the miscarriage of justice has thrust the couple into the media spotlight.