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Executed Teenager Found ‘Not Guilty’ 18 Years Later — Huugjilt Case
In April 1996, Huugjilt was found guilty of raping and murdering a woman and was executed. 18 years later, a confessed murderer admitted that he did the act.
On April 9, 1996, Huugjilt discovered the body of a woman called Yang in a factory’s public bathroom. The woman had been raped and strangled, and the official tunnel vision common of wrongful convictions immediately focused on Huugjilt. With conviction quotas to meet, authorities pushed Huugjilt into confessing and bringing the case to a premature close.
It took only 61 days from the time the case was reported to the time Huugjilt was executed. This occurred during the course of China’s comprehensive national effort to combat criminal activity, during which public security, procuratorial agencies, and courts were urged to adopt prompt and severe measures when dealing with criminal matters.
Doubts about the case emerged in 2005, when a serial rapist and murderer, Zhai Zhihong, confessed to authorities that he had committed the crime after being arrested for another crime.
