| Liu Zhonglin (left) gives an interview in Beijing in April 2018 with his lawyer Zhang Yupeng after being acquitted of a murder for which he spent 25 years in prison. Photo: VCG |
Jilin man Liu Zhonglin, who had spent 25 years in a Northeast China prison for a murder he did not commit, received 4.6 million yuan ($670,000) of state compensation on Monday.
Liu’s compensation included 1.97 million yuan for mental anguish, which is the highest one ever awarded to an individual who has been wrongfully convicted. It also included 2.62 million yuan for loss of freedom.
Liu, 50, who was released from prison in April last year, returned to the Intermediate People’s Court of Liaoyuan in Northeast China’s Jilin Province on Monday to hear the court announce the compensation he would receive, the news site thepaper.cn reported on Monday.
Liu said he is satisfied with the amount of compensation but the “best time of my life had been already deprived.”
Liu’s lawyer, Qu Zhenhong, told thepaper.cn that the amount of compensation for loss of freedom is in accordance with the standard regulated by Supreme People’s Court of China that should be 284.74 yuan for each day.
The report said that the compensation for mental injury suffered by Liu was the highest ever recorded in a wrongful conviction case, surpassing 1.3 million yuan given to Hebei man Nie Shubin who was also wrongfully convicted of murder.
In October 1990 villagers in Dongliao county, Jilin Province discovered the body of 19-year-old Zheng Dianrong, who had been missing for more than one year.
Liu, who was 22 years old at that time, was identified as a murder suspect and charged with intentional homicide by local police.
Liu was convicted and received a suspended death sentenced by the Intermediate People’s Court of Liaoyuan in July 1994.
He was released after serving the full term of a sentence in January 2016 and he kept to appeal even if he had been in the prison.
Liu maintained his innocence but it was not until the Higher People’s Court of Jilin Province declared him innocent on April 20, 2018 that he regained his freedom, thepaper.cn said.
According to China’s State Compensation Law, the court must make an apology and pay appropriate consolation money if the infringement causes serious subsequences.