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Payout for man cleared of 2001 rape, murder
Shanghai Daily, March 4, 2014
A farmer who spent 12 years behind bars after being wrongly convicted of raping and murdering a teenage girl has received almost 1 million yuan (US$162,654) in compensation.
Li Huailiang, from central China's Henan Province, was awarded 788,227 yuan for his loss of freedom, plus 200,000 yuan for mental anguish, the Dahe Daily reported.
However, this is well short of the 3.8 million yuan that Li had sought.
"The money's enough for him to buy a house and try to rebuild his life, but other people will never know the hard times we have all suffered," said Li Huailiang's sister Li Aimei.
Li Huailiang's family paid lawyers fees for years as they fought to clear his name.
Li Aimei said they would use the cash to give her brother, who suffers from depression, a better life.
"We've rented a room where he can recover his health and we can also teach him how to cook," she said.
Relatives also hope that Li Huailiang and his wife, who left him after he was convicted, can be reunited. They have two children.
On August 2, 2001, 13-year-old Guo Xiaohong went out to play but never returned home. Two days later, her partially clothed body was found.
Police said she had been raped and murdered and her body dumped in a river.
Li Huailiang was the prime suspect as he had passed by the crime scene and was detained five days later.
Between 2001 and 2006, he stood trial seven times, appealing against sentences that included 15 years in jail, death and death with reprieve.
In May 2005, the Pingdingshan Intermediate People's Court sentenced Li Huailiang to death.
The convictions were quashed last April on the grounds of lack of evidence. Li had sought 3.8 million yuan in compensation, but the courts rejected this.
Meanwhile, Guo's family are no closer to finding her killer.
"We have waited for 12 years but still can't get justice," her mother, Du Yuhua, said.
