After Record 9,778 days in Jail, Innocent Man Released

Zhang (in red sash) reunited with his extended family

One wonders if the Chinese justice system will make changes in how it convicts defendants after an innocent man was finally released after spending almost 27 years in jail for a crime he did not commit. It is believed to be the longest wrongful imprisonment in China's history.

A court in the eastern province in Jiangxi found there was insufficient evidence to convict then 26-year-old Zhang Yuhuan of murdering two boys in 1995. He was handed a suspended death sentence in 1995 that was commuted life in prison after two years.

The court apologizes to Zhang

Zhang applied for a retrial in 2017 and it was granted last March and then finally ruled on last month.

"After the verdict, a representative of the Jiangxi High People's Court apologized to Zhang Yuhan on behalf of the court, and informed him he has the right to apply for state compensation," said the official summary of the case that was published on the court's website.

Before Zhang, the longest wrongful sentence was held by Liu Zhonglin, who was imprisoned at the age of 22 and released 25 years later. Liu was awarded 4.6 million yuan (US$670,000), about 500 yuan for each of the 9,217 days he was in prison.

Zhang, now 53, spent 9,778 days behind bars and is applying for 7 million yuan in compensation, according to his lawyer.

"I was taken as a young man and returned as a geezer, but I still have to thank the government for giving back my innocence," Zhang told local media on Wednesday.

But the emotional toll the almost 27-year sentence had on his family cannot be compensated with money; time is not something they can reverse.

Zhang with his ex-wife who helped his appeal

At the time of his imprisonment Zhang had a wife and two sons. She divorced him after being deprived of an income for six years and remarried, though she continued to help him with his appeal. Zhang came out of jail to meet his grandchildren, the oldest one is 12 years old.

"I've seen a lot of brothers and sisters, a lot of relatives, but I don't recognize many," Zhang said, adding his mother now 84, was the hardest to recognize.

Zhang says he was tortured by public security officers to produce a confession that contributed to his original conviction. However, the Jiangxi High People's Court rejected the application by Zhang and his lawyer to have such evidence disqualified, citing a lack of evidence behind the claims.

But now Zhang wants the relevant legal authorities to take action against those who allegedly pressured him to give a false confession.

What are the chances the authorities will actually track down those people from 27 years ago? Zhang may never get the justice he wants to see.

Zhang with his 84-year-old mother

China has one of the highest conviction rates in the world at 99.9 percent in 2016, while the conviction rate in the US federal court system is 93 percent.

In 2014 the Supreme People's Court abolished the use of conviction rates as a performance benchmark in the hopes that it would lead to fewer miscarriages of justice, and reduce the instances of torture and forced confessions.

But no one listened to Zhang, or his older brother Zhang Minqiang, who said he wrote over 1,000 letters of appeal throughout his brother's imprisonment.

How will Zhang ease back into normal life again? It will be a massive challenge for him, not only from a practical sense, but also psychologically having been through so much.

Hopefully his compensation request will be approved, but how do you even begin to compensate for 27 years of lost time?