Executed man's kin upset two judges get new roles

Two judges who wrongfully sentenced a man to death in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region in 1996 have been appointed to the trial committee of an intermediate court in the area, raising complaints from the victim's family.

Hu Ercha and Gong Jing were the judges of the intermediate people's court, the top city-level court in Hohhot, who sentenced Hugjiltu to death after his first hearing in May 1996 for a rape and murder. The verdict was sustained the following month by the region's high people's court.

The 18-year-old Hugjiltu, a member of the Mongolian ethnic group, was executed just 62 days after being charged, despite doubts about the evidence against him. Nine years later, Zhao Zhihong, 42, who had been arrested on suspicion of carrying out a series of rapes and killings, confessed to the murder.