$330,000 compensation for family of wrongly executed man

Hugjiltu's mother, Shang Aiyun, holds a photo of her son, who was wrongfully executed 18 years ago. [Photo by Guo Tieliu/for China Daily]

The parents of Hugjiltu, an 18-year-old who was executed after being wrongly convicted of raping and killing a woman in 1996, will receive 2,059,621.4 yuan ($332,116) in compensation, according to the Higher People's Court of the Inner Mongolia autonomous region on Wednesday.

Hugjiltu, a member of the Mongolian ethnic group, was found guilty of raping and fatally choking a woman in a toilet at a textile factory in Hohhot, capital of the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, on April 9, 1996. He was executed 61 days later.

The case triggered controversy when Zhao Zhihong confessed to the murder after he was arrested in 2005.

The Inner Mongolia Higher People's Court overturned Hugjiltu's conviction earlier this year, 18 years after the man was executed.

The parents of Hugjiltu said they respect the decision of the court.

After 18 years, executed man found not guilty

A man who was executed in 1996 for raping and murdering a woman in a public toilet in Hohhot on April 9, 1996, has been found not guilty by Inner Mongolia Higher People's Court.