Compensation case for wrongly jailed men to be heard  

(Ecns) — Two Anhui men who were acquitted after serving a 10-year prison sentence over rape and murder charges have filed a compensation claim to the Higher People's Court of Zhejiang Province, asking for compensations of up to 7.02 million yuan ($1.1 million), the court said on Wednesday.

Their claim will be dealt with in accordance with relevant judicial procedures.

Zhang Gaoping, one of the two men, said he had been busy with the compensation claim and media interviews since he was acquitted.

According to court hearings, on the night of May 18, 2003, Zhang Gaoping and his nephew Zhang Hui gave a ride to a 17-year-old woman surnamed Wang, while transporting freight to the provincial capital Hangzhou. The woman was found dead the next day.

Police detained the two men on May 23, 2003, as suspects in Wang's death but failed to provide physical evidence to bring charges against them.

Under pressure, Zhang Gaoping said they were forced to confess to the crime of rape during police interrogations.

Provincial authorities are still investigating law enforcement organs over the wrongful convictions.

The two men, who had been wrongly jailed for nearly 10 years, were exonerated on March 26.

According to reports by media in Anhui, 12 items are included in the compensation claim list.

However, Ruan Fangming, the lawyer for the two men, says that the compensation claim is still undergoing revisions as each item needs to be backed by conclusive legal evidence.

Ruan also expressed his concern over the 7.02 million yuan compensation claim.

"As much of the evidence need to be gathered or collected through investigations into relevant institutions or individuals, the case may easily become the talk of the town. As a result, many people we come into contact with may consider the two Zhangs as having been highly compensated, which, in fact is not finalized yet."

According to Ruan, apart from the national compensation claim, other claims, though mostly reasonable, may be denied due to the lack of a solid legal basis.