Murder case review delayed for 9 years

Lawyers for a man who may have been wrongfully executed say that requests to see their client's files have been rejected 54 times, raising allegations from the man's family that the highest court in Hebei province is deliberately impeding efforts to clear his name.

Nie Shubin, 21, was executed in 1995 for the rape and murder of a woman in Shijiazhuang in 1994. Ten years later, another man, Wang Shujin, 46, who was being held by the police in connection with three other rape and murder cases, confessed to raping and killing the woman in Shijiazhuang.

Nie's family asked Hebei High Court to retry their son's case after they heard about the confession. In the nine years since, there has been no clear answer to that request, and even requests to read historical court files have not been honored, they say.