China’s justice system is being haunted by a ”murdered” woman who has turned up alive and well 11 years after police tortured her husband into confessing to her supposed killing.
The sudden reappearance of Zhang Zaiyu — who ran off, rather than being dumped in a reservoir as detectives claimed — has embarrassed law-enforcement authorities and strengthened calls for penal reform in a country that executes more prisoners than any other.
Zhang’s husband, She Xianglin, was sentenced to death in 1974, soon after his wife went missing from their village in Hubei province. The evidence against him was the unidentified body of a woman found in a nearby lake, the accusations of Zhang’s family and his own ”confession”.
According to the Xinhua news agency, the former security guard was deprived of sleep during 10 days of interrogation until he signed a document pleading guilty to murder. A higher court later commuted the death sentence to 15 years.
In his first interview after being released, the wronged man said he wants compensation from the state and to avoid his former wife. — Guardian Unlimited Â