THE Inner Mongolia People’s Procuratorate has begun an investigation into the police involved in the case which led to the execution of a then teenager for a crime he was cleared of Monday.

    Huugjilt was found guilty of rape and murder May 23, 1996, and he was executed June 10.

    On Monday, Zhao Jianping, a deputy chief judge at the higher people’s court, had presented Huugjilt’s parents with legal papers declaring his innocence.

    On Tuesday, a serial killer was charged with a 10th murder , one day after Huugjilt was announced innocent of the crime.

    Zhao Zhihong had been caught by police in Hohhot, capital of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, in October 2005 and charged with 21 cases of murder, rape and theft between 1996 and 2005, Xinhua reported.

    He admitted to nine murders but also claimed responsibility for the 10th, one that had led to the execution of Huugjilt in 1996.

    However, at Zhao’s trial in 2006, prosecutors failed to mention the 10th murder, an official who was in court told Tuesday’s Legal Evening News.

    Zhao was sentenced to death on the nine murder charges. But his insistence he was guilty of a 10th alerted the Central Government, said Hua Lijia, a former prosecutor in Hohhot.

    Zhao has been in detention awaiting trial since then. He continued to insist he was guilty of the 10th murder and even wrote to the Supreme People’s Court, saying: “I hope to bear the blame for what I have done. I apply for a review of the case to return the fair name to the wrongly convicted and prove the justice of the law. Also, I want to face my doomsday without any regret.” (SD-Agencies)