Jiangxi man cleared of homicide conviction after 19 years in prison

A villager in Jiangxi province, who has served 19 years in prison, has had his name cleared on Friday for insufficient evidence to prove his conviction of intentional killing after a retrial.

At 3 pm Friday, the Jiangxi Provincial High People's Court overturned an original ruling in which the villager Li Jinlian was given a suspended death sentence, and announced Li, now 68, not guilty, as the chain of evidence in his case was not complete to prove his conviction.

Hu Shuzhu, vice-president of the court, apologized to Li after announcing the result and informed him to apply for State compensation.

In October 1998, two children in the province's Suichuan county died from poisoning after picking up and eating some tainted candies around their home. Soon, Li was named as the suspect and criminally detained, a statement of the high people's court said.

In July 1999, Li was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve for the intentional homicide at Ji'an Intermediate People's Court in the province.

A year later, the high people's court rejected Li's appeal and upheld the original ruling, it said.

During the two-year probation, Li did not commit any new crimes, so his sentence was reduced to life imprisonment under the Chinese Criminal Law. He also received commutations five times because he behaved well in prison, and at the same time he constantly appealed, it said.

The turnaround did not happen until February 2011, when the Supreme People's Court ordered the provincial high people's court to retry the case after a review. But the original ruling was still kept following the review that year, according to the statement.

In July last year, the national top court gave a rehearing order to the provincial high people's court, and the case was retried on May 18, it said.