Jilin man wrongly convicted of 1990 killing demands $2m in damages

A man who spent 25 years in prison after being wrongly convicted of killing a woman in northeastern China has demanded over $2 million in compensation.

Liu Zhonglin’s name was finally cleared on appeal last month when the Jilin High People’s Court ruled that the original verdict had been based on insufficient evidence.

On Wednesday, he and his lawyers returned to court to demand 16.67 million yuan ($2.6 million) in State compensation. This included 7.9 million yuan for wrongful imprisonment, 8 million yuan for mental anguish and 300,000 yuan for medical expenses.

Liu, 49, was detained by police in 1990 after a woman’s body was found in a village field in Liaoyuan, Jilin province. He was sentenced to death — suspended for two years — for intentional homicide four years later.

After years of appeals, the high court agreed to rehear the case in April 2016. By that time, Liu had already been released from prison after serving 25 years, the standard term for convicts who do not reoffend after receiving a suspended death sentence.