An impoverished farmer from East China's Anhui Province who was wrongfully sentenced to death for robbery and murder has regained his freedom, thanks to free services from the local legal aid center.
Li Ping, a farmer from Lidakang Village in Bozhou City, was arrested in March 2000 on charges of murdering a fellow villager and stealing his ox.
Li insisted he was innocent and told the court his earlier confession was the result of police brutality.
Nonetheless, he was found guilty in February 2001, and the Bozhou Intermediate People's Court sentenced him to death with a two-year suspension. Court officials also ordered that all his property be confiscated.
Because Li was too poor to hire a lawyer to appeal, the Anhui Provincial Legal Aid Center appointed Sang Hongzhi, an attorney at Anhui Runtian Law Firm, to provide him with free counsel.
During his investigation, Sang discovered that Li was working as a migrant laborer in North China's Shanxi Province at the time of the murder and robbery and therefore had a tight alibi.
In May, after two trials, the Anhui Provincial Higher People's Court lifted the death sentence, citing a lack of evidence. Li was then freed from jail after serving more than two years.
"It was a nightmare," an emotional Li said upon his release. "The facts were always there."
The police officers, prosecutors and judges responsible for the original conviction have been punished. With the help of the legal aid service, Li is now seeking State compensation for his ordeal.
About 310,000 poor Chinese used heavily discounted or free legal aid last year.
(China Daily August 23, 2002)
