Review hearing set for murder conviction 20 years after execution

A court in the eastern province of Shandong has scheduled a review of a controversial 1994 rape and murder case that saw the man on trial executed only for another man to later confess to the crime.

Nie Shubin, who was 21 in 1995 when he was executed, was found guilty of the rape and murder of a woman in Hebei's provincial capital, Shijiazhuang. Wang Shujin has since insisted that he was guilty.

Wang, 48, was apprehended by police in 2005 for three unconnected rape and murder cases, and confessed to a rape and murder that was similar to Nie's case.

Hebei Higher People's Court, which approved the death penalty for Nie in 1995, rejected Wang's request for a retrial in 2013 and still holds that Nie was guilty.

Last December the Supreme People's Court ordered the case to be moved out of the province and to be reviewed by the higher court of Shandong.

Nie's family and their legal team as well as officials representing those involved in the original trial will attend the hearing, said a statement from the court.

The hearing will be open to select witnesses, including legal experts, lawmakers, political advisors and representatives of the public, the statement said.

However, due to privacy concerns, the hearing will not be open to the public but proceedings will be documented via the court's official microblog account, the statement said.

The Shandong Higher People's Court will hear the case on April 28.Endit