Nov. 20
CHINA:
Retrial begins in China of 'convict' executed in 1996
A court in north China Thursday officially began reconsideration of a 1996 rape
and murder case, which may have resulted in the conviction and execution of the
wrong man.
The presiding judge with Inner Mongolia Higher People's Court, Bobatu, issued a
retrial notice to the parents of Huugjilt, found guilty of the rape and murder
of a woman in a public toilet in the regional capital Hohhot April 9, 1996,
Xinhua reported.
Huugjilt, 18 at the time, was sentenced to death by Hohhot Intermediate
People's Court in May 1996. His appeal was rejected, the death penalty was
approved by the region's higher court and Huugjilt was executed June 10,1996.
After his execution, another alleged serial rapist and killer, Zhao Zhihong,
confessed to the murder when he was arrested in 2005. Zhao allegedly raped and
killed 10 women and girls between 1996 and 2005. He stood trial in late 2006
and no verdict has yet been issued.
President of the higher court, Hu Yifeng, said earlier this month that should
there be any errors in the previous ruling, they must be addressed.
"It has been so difficult to wait for the retrial decision," sobbed Shang
Aiyun, 62, mother of the dead Huugjilt, in her home. She said she hoped the
court would proceed carefully with the retrial and that the verdict would prove
her son's innocence.
Huugjilt's parents, unwavering in their belief in their son's innocence, have
been petitioning the country's supreme court and the region's higher court
since 2006.
Yan Feng, a friend and colleague of Huugjilt, tells how they heard someone cry
out in a women's toilet as they passed by. Huugjilt asked Yan to go with him
into the toilet to see what had happened. There they saw a woman's body and
immediately ran out. Huugjilt then reported it to police despite Yan's attempts
to persuade him to keep quiet.
China's Criminal Procedure Law stipulates that if the evidence on which a
verdict is based is found to be questionable or inadequate, a retrial should be
held. The retrial will be a purely documentary one and will be completed as
soon as possible, said Li Shengchen, spokesman for the Inner Mongolia Higher
People's Court, at a press briefing in Hohhot Thursday.
In a similar case, Nie Shubin in north China's Hebei Province was executed in
1995 at the age of 21 for the 1994 rape and murder of a woman in the provincial
capital of Shijiazhuang. Later Wang Shujin was apprehended by police in 2005
for 3 unconnected rape and murder cases, and confessed to the rape and murder
of the woman in Shijiazhuang. In that instance the provincial higher court did
not believe Wang's claim in a retrial last year and Nie's verdict still stands.
Also last year, a man in the eastern province of Anhui was declared innocent
after serving 17 years of a life sentence for the killing of his wife.
The Anhui provincial higher people's court set Yu Yingsheng free when it ruled
that in the previous trial, facts about the alleged homicide were unclear and
the evidence inadequate.
China's Supreme People's Court started to review all death penalty rulings on
Jan 1, 2007, ending 24 years during which lower courts could issue death
sentences and execute criminals without any other approval.
The Communist Party of China made a decision on major issues concerning the
rule of law last month and the Huugjilt retrial is an indication of how things
are changing, said Miao Li, a lawyer in Inner Mongolia.
"I hope a fair trial can reveal the truth of the case and give every citizen a
sense of justice and fairness," said Miao.
(source: Business Standard)
THAILAND:
Burmese murder accused ask British backpackers' families for help
2 Burmese men detained in Thailand for allegedly killing the British
backpackers Hannah Witheridge and David Miller have told the Guardian they are
innocent and have appealed to the victims' families and the UK government to
help them clear their names.
In their 1st media interview since being arrested almost 8 weeks ago, Zaw Lin
and Wai Phyo, both 21, stressed their sorrow over the deaths of the Britons,
whose battered bodies were found on a beach on the holiday island of Koh Tao on
15 September. But they said they were not involved and asked UK authorities to
share with their lawyers the results of a Metropolitan police review of the
Thai investigation.
The pair described their shock at being accused, and their concerns for their
parents in Burma, who were reliant on the men's earnings from bar work on Koh
Tao.
The pair, who were arrested a fortnight after the double murder and face a
possible death penalty, passed the Guardian an open letter addressed to the
victims' parents.
Handwritten in Burmese, and with their names signed in English, it reads: "We
are really distraught about the loss of your children, and we share your grief.
But we want to stress to you that we didn't do anything wrong, and this crime
was nothing to do with us.
"In order that the truth can be revealed, we want to ask for help from all of
you to ensure that we get access to information that the British government
has. We would like this information to be shared with our lawyers so the truth
can come out. We really want to express our thanks for your help."
Zaw Lin and Wai Phyo - the latter of whom was previously and incorrectly named
by authorities as Win Zaw Htun - initially admitted to the murder of Miller,
24, who suffered head injuries and drowned in shallow water, and the rape and
murder of Witheridge, 23, who died from severe head injuries. Police said they
were motivated by sexual jealousy after seeing the Britons together on the
beach.
However, the men then retracted their confessions, saying they had been
tortured and threatened with death by their interrogators.
Thai police say they have DNA evidence linking the men to the crime. However,
there have been doubts about the way this evidence was collected, especially
given that a number of people walked across the murder scene before it was
sealed off.
Human rights groups including Amnesty International have become involved,
noting that Burmese migrant workers have previously been wrongly accused of
crimes by Thai police.
The authorities had been under pressure to solve this particular murder case
quickly as it threatened the country's vital tourism industry.
A month after the murders the Foreign Office in London took the rare step of
summoning a senior Thai diplomat to express its concern about the way the
investigation had been handled. A Metropolitan police team flew to Thailand to
review the case. The Foreign Office says the report has yet to be completed.
The suspects handed the letter to the Guardian on Wednesday at a court hearing
in Koh Samui, the larger island near Koh Tao which acts as the local
administrative centre, during which they were remanded in custody for a further
12 days.
The pair are not permitted to have documents in jail, so they wrote the letter
in court.
During breaks in the hearing the men, dressed in baggy, numbered prison tunics,
with their legs manacled by heavy chains, were able to answer questions via a
translator.
Wai Phyo said the pair were placing much of their hope on British interest in
the case. He said: "We want the parents of the victims and the British
government to come together and help us fight for justice. We're very sad at
what happened and we want the people of Britain to know that we didn't do it.
"I felt very scared when we were arrested, and also very shy that all these
people were looking at me. I didn't know what was happening. I am not a bad
person. I'm a good person."
Zaw Lin said he was worried about his family in Burma: "My father has died and
I was providing for my mother. I'm just really worried about her now. Now we
just want to go back to Burma. We don't want to work here any more. I don't
care about being poor, I just want to be at home with my family."
The pair said that on the night of the murder they had been drinking heavily
and playing guitar on the beach, and by late evening were "so drunk we couldn't
walk properly". They both said they had no idea who carried out the crime.
A number of reports have linked the killings to powerful Thai families in the
region, where there has long been allegations of heavy involvement of organised
crime in the tourism industry. Foreign Office advice to Britons travelling to
Koh Tao and its neighbouring islands warns of regular sexual assaults and
robberies.
The Burmese men remain in prison while police continue to compile a report for
prosecutors, a document which has already been rejected by the lawyers several
times. The men can be detained for a maximum of 84 days, meaning they must be
tried or released by Christmas.
A Foreign Office spokeswoman said she could not comment on the case until the
Metropolitan police report was completed, after which the victims' families
would meet police officers.
"Detectives from the United Kingdom, who were in Thailand reviewing the
investigation into the murders of Hannah Witheridge and David Miller, have
returned to the UK to compile their report and to update the families of Hannah
and David on their findings," she said. "The police team wish to thank the Thai
authorities for facilitating the visit. It is not possible to make any further
comment about the review at this time."
(source: The Guardian)
_______________________________________________
DeathPenalty mailing list
DeathPenalty@lists.washlaw.edu
http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/listinfo/deathpenalty
Search the Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/deathpenalty@lists.washlaw.edu/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A free service of WashLaw
http://washlaw.edu
(785)670.1088
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
