The Zhejiang Higher People's Court said on its website over the weekend that it decided to review the conviction of five men who were found guilty of the 1995 murders of two taxi drivers to which four were sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve and another was given a life sentence.
The court also said the verdict could be corrected if new evidence supported the men's innocence. The police presented confessions from the men during their trial.
A collegiate panel was set up on January 4 to review the case involving the murder 18 years ago of two taxi drivers in Hangzhou. The panel will examine new evidence handed over by the city's intermediate people's court in December, the higher court said.
The new evidence was discovered by city police in 2012 during an investigation of a recent taxi robbery, which showed the suspect's finger print matched one from the robbery and murder of a driver in 1995.
He Bing, vice dean of the Law School with the China University of Political Science and Law, first exposed problems with the case on his Sina Weibo Saturday morning.
"The review shows the improvement of the country's judicial fairness and its willingness to correct errors. The announcement made by the court will help judiciary organs earn the public's trust," He told the Global Times, adding that it could also promote the transparency of trials.
He said the local judiciary may have wrongly convicted the five men who have languished in prison for 15 years.
Weibo users are now wondering if the five suspects were tortured into confessing and what compensation they might receive if it is found they were wrongfully convicted.
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