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Xinhua Insight: Innocence announced 18 years after man executed for rape, murder
January 20,2015   By:Xinhua
HOHHOT, Dec. 16, 2014 -- A man sentenced to death and executed in a controversial 1996 rape and murder case was acquitted of his crimes 18 years later in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region on Monday.

Huugjilt, who was 18 at the time of his conviction and execution, had his innocence officially announced by Zhao Jianping, deputy chief judge of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Regional Higher People's Court, who also apologized to his parents.

Huugjilt was found guilty of raping and murdering a woman in a public toilet in Hohhot on April 9, 1996. He was sentenced to death and executed in June 1996.

Zhao bowed low to the tearful couple as he handed the court order over to them

Shang Aiyun, 62, mother of the dead Huugjilt, said she would copy the court paper, and burn the print in front of her son's grave to "comfort his spirit that has been suffering from the pain of a wrongful charge."

The couple, unwavering in their belief in their son's innocence, have been petitioning to the country's supreme court and the region's higher court since 2006.