Decision delayed on retrial of man executed 20 years ago

A long-awaited ruling on the retrial of a man executed 20 years ago - his family says wrongfully - has been delayed again as the top court in Shandong province wrestles with the complexity of the case.

Nie Shubin, a worker in Shijiazhuang, Hebei province, was put to death in April 1995 when he was 20 years old for allegedly raping and killing a woman in a cornfield.

Nie's story remained obscure until a serial killer, Wang Shujin, who was arrested on other charges in January 2005, confessed to the crime for which Nie was executed.

Three months later, a working group was set up by the Political and Legal Affairs Committee in Hebei province to review the case. But in the decade since, no decision on whether Nie's case should be retried has been made.

In 2013, Hebei High People's Court, which approved Nie's death sentence, set aside Wang's claim on the grounds that his account of the crime was inconsistent with the police investigation in 1995.

On Dec 12, the Supreme People's Court sent the case to Shandong High People's Court for review - a move seen as a way to avoid the potential of interference from local authorities. It was the first time jurisdiction over a criminal case had ever been changed.

The decision on a retrial was due on Thursday, but the high court in Shandong announced a three-month postponement, citing the SPP's approval. A decision on the review will be announced on Sept 15, it said.

"The postponement of the review by the high court in Shandong is in accordance with the law, which stipulates that a court is allowed to postpone a case review with the approval of the Supreme People's Court," said Chen Guangwu, the defense lawyer for Nie's family. "I still have faith that the court in Shandong will support a retrial."

He reasoned that the court's decision should be made on grounds of prudence.

"I don't think the court deliberately wants to delay the case. It has been on hold in Hebei for a decade. I can imagine influence by the court in Hebei."

In December, a similar case grabbed the media spotlight when the conviction of Hugjiltu, a man from the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, was overturned. Hugjiltu was wrongfully executed in 1994 for the rape and murder of a woman, and his family was awarded State compensation of 2 million yuan ($322,000).

Zhang Huanzhi, Nie's mother, was notified of the postponement on Thursday. She said she understood the decision and is not too worried about the final result of the review.

zhang_yi@chinadaily.com.cn