True killer to die after miscarriage of justice

A man who raped and murdered a woman in 1996 - a crime for which an innocent man was wrongly executed - was sentenced to death on Monday for those crimes and for killing nine other people.

The sentence was imposed after a trial spanning almost 10 years. It concluded only after the innocent 18-year-old was declared innocent in December. Zhao Zhihong, 42, was tried on charges of murder, rape, robbery and larceny in 21 cases at the Intermediate People's Court in Hohhot, capital of the Inner Mongolia autonomous region.

The court deprived Zhao of political rights for life, fined him 53,000 yuan ($8,500) and ordered him to pay 102,768 yuan in compensation to the victims.