China court to rehear rape case 20 yrs after convict executed

China's Supreme People's Court (SPC) will rehear a two-decades-old rape-and-murder case in which a man was found guilty and executed, after a five-member judicial panel concluded that the evidence presented during the initial trial was questionable.
The SPC has decided to rehear the case, and the family of the convict, Nie Shubin, was informed today, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
Nie, from Hebei Province, was convicted and executed in 1995 for the rape and murder of a woman in Shijiazhuang.
But in 2005, another man confessed to the crime.
In December 2014, following an application from Hebei Higher People's Court, the SPC assigned the higher court of Shandong Province to review the case.

A five-member panel at the Shandong court reviewed and found the evidence presented during the initial trial did not identify Nie as the perpetrator beyond all doubt, and the trial and investigation were peppered with inconsistencies.

The panel concluded that the evidence was questionable and suggested the case be reheard.
The SPC statement said the panel, during its review, had examined the case files, listened to the defendant's lawyer and consulted forensic scientists over the autopsy report.
The SPC agreed with the Shandong court's suggestion.
It said that a retrial panel will be established to hear the case and that any developments will be made public.

Nie's case has been compared to a 1996 case in Inner Mongolia, where a teenager named Huugjilt was executed for the rape and murder of a woman the same year.
A self-confessed serial rapist and killer later admitted to the crime while in police custody in 2005.
In December 2014, Huugjilt's conviction was officially quashed by Inner Mongolia Autonomous Regional Higher People's Court.