Eighteen years after a Chinese youth was executed for a controversial rape and murder case, a court today acquitted him and apologised to his parents.
Huugjilt, who was 18 at the time of his conviction and execution, had his innocence officially announced by Zhao Jianping, deputy chief judge of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Regional Higher People's Court, who also apologised to his parents.
Investigations have been launched into the police and judicial officials who have subverted the system to get Huugjilt executed while leaving a real culprit on the loose.
Huugjilt was found guilty of raping and murdering a woman in a public toilet in Hohhot on April 9, 1996.
He was sentenced to death and executed in June 1996.
Judge Zhao bowed low to the tearful couple as he handed the court order over to them.
Shang Aiyun, 62, mother of the dead Huugjilt, said she would copy the court paper, and burn the print in front of her son's grave to "comfort his spirit that has been suffering from the pain of a wrongful charge."
The couple, unwavering in their belief in their son's innocence, have been petitioning to the country's supreme court and the region's higher court since 2006.
Yan Feng, a friend and colleague of Huugjilt the prime witness said they heard someone cry out in a women's toilet as they passed by.
Huugjilt asked Yan to go with him into the toilet to see what had happened. There they saw a woman's body and immediately ran out. Huugjilt then reported it to police despite Yan's attempts to persuade him to keep quiet.
A month later, Huugjilt was sentenced to death by the Hohhot Intermediate People's Court. His appeal was rejected, the death penalty was approved by the region's higher court and Huugjilt was executed on June 10, 1996.
Official media said the case took place during China's sweeping national campaign to strike hard against criminal activities, when public security, procuratorial organs and courts were encouraged to take swift and severe measures in dealing with criminal cases.
Official figures suggested in the year 1995 alone, public security departments nationwide handled 1.5 million criminal cases, many involving illegal use of guns, drug and organised crime, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
Detectives working in the Hohhot public security bureau at the time admitted that during the campaign their work performance was rated by an annual quota on how many criminal cases they uncovered.
Doubts on the case emerged in 2005 when another alleged serial rapist and killer, Zhao Zhihong, confessed to the murder of the woman.
Zhao allegedly raped and killed 10 women and girls between 1996 and 2005. He stood trial in late 2006 and no verdict has yet been issued.
