Police in Jingshan County, central China's Hubei Province, agreed yesterday to pay 226,000 yuan (US$27,950) to She Xianglin to compensate his physical and mental injuries, medical fees, and daughter's living expenses after they tortured a confession from him and imprisoned him for 11 years for a murder that never took place.

They also agreed to give She 220,000 yuan (US$27,200) compensation for the arrest and nine-month imprisonment of his 54-year-old mother Yang Wuxiang in 1996 for "interfering with justice" after she repeatedly appealed his case. Yang died three months after being released.

She's innocence became too obvious to ignore when his wife Zhang Zaiyu, who he had been accused of killing in 1994, reappeared alive and well in the local area in March this year. He was released in April.

On August 31, She won 260,000 yuan (US$27,950) compensation from Jingmen Intermediate People's Court for lost earnings and 200,000 yuan (US$24,700) from the local government as a subsidy for his livelihood, but had to fight on to be compensated for the injustice itself.

His elder brother, She Suolin, will receive 4,000 yuan (US$495) from the police for being jailed for 40 days, also in connection with trying to prove She Xianglin's innocence.

The police will also give Nie Maiqing and Ni Xinhai, who they jailed for three months and 22 days respectively for trying to prove that She's wife was in fact alive, compensation of 22,000 yuan (US$2,700) and 3,000 yuan (US$370).

(China Daily October 28, 2005)