The case of Nie Shubin
Nie Shubin（聂树斌）is a farmer in Hebei Provinc. He was executed 21 years ago for the rape and murder of a rural woman in 1995. Ten years later, however, his conviction now comes under scrutiny due to the arrival of a new suspect called Wang Shujin (王书金). On Dec. 2, 2016, the Supreme People's Court revoked the conviction given to Nie.
Wang, who was arrested in 2005 on the counts of rape and murder, confessed he had raped and killed several women in Shijiazhuang and Guangping in Hebei Province. When he recalled one of his atrocities in Shijiazhuang, police found his confession coincided with Nie’s in terms of time, place and feat. This indicated Nie might have been wrongfully executed.
The case immediately made headlines and subsequently led Nie’s family to demand the re-opening of Nie’s file. The legal department of Hebei Province consequently organized a reinvestigation group to delve deeper into the case.
In March 2007, the Handan Intermediate People’s Court sentenced Wang to death. However, Wang lodged a higher people’s court appeal, saying the intermediate court did not incorporate the crime he’d committed in the corn lands of Shijiazhuang, where he had raped and killed a woman. Coincidentally, this was the same place Nie had been prosecuted for rape and murder. The appeal was suspended until Jun. 25, 2013, as the Hebei High People’s Court started examining Wang’s case.
Zhang Huanzhi, Nie’s over 70-year-old mother, said she never believed her son could be a murderer as he had always been such a nice and obedient man.
According to Zhang, she and her husband insisted on carrying on with their lives because they wanted to clear their son’s name.
Wang’s trial has attracted much attention. According to an editorial in Beijing News, the fact that Nie’s case had been on the shelf since 2005 triggered widespread skepticism regarding the credibility of China’s legal system.
The editorial continued to note justice had already come far too late for Nie and should not be delayed any more. If further delayed, Nie’s family would suffer even deeper wounds and the public trust in the legal system would be greatly damaged.
On Sept. 27, 2013, the Hebei Provincial Higher People's Court turned down the appeal by Wang Shujin and endorsed the original death sentence handed down by Handan Intermediate People's Court at the first trial.
The appeal court said in the verdict that Wang's version of events regarding the crime he "confessed" to did not correspond to several important details uncovered by the police. His recounting of the crime scene was due to the fact that he worked in a nearby factory and not because he was involved in the murder, police said.
