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Wrongly Convicted Database Record
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Charge: |
Homicide (criminally negligent) |
Sentence: |
Life Imprisonment |
Years Imprisoned: |
13.83 |
Year Crime: |
2002 |
Year Convicted: |
2002 |
Year Cleared: |
2015 |
U.S. State or Country of Crime: |
China |
County or Region of Crime: |
Yunnan |
City of Crime: |
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Result: |
Judicially Exonerated Released |
Summary of Case: |
"Qian Renfeng was wrongly convicted in 2002 of criminally negligent homicide in the death of a child in kindergarten class by putting rat poison in the child's food on February 22, 2002. The 17-year-old Renfeng worked as a nurse at the Xing Rui Kindergarten in Qiaojia County in Yunnan province in Southwest China. After 12 hours of interrogation and forcing Renfeng onto her knees for hours and beating her across her face with a leather shoe. of children, police said she confessed to putting rat poison in the food of three children -- the one that died and two others who were hospitalized. Renfeng disputed her confession, claiming she had been suffering from severe fatigue and torture. Qian was tried before an autopsy on the deceased child was completed -- which was inconclusive as as to the cause of the child's death. Based primarily on her alleged confession, Renfeng was convicted, and on September 3, 2002 she was given the lenient sentence of life in prison because she was 17 at the time of the child's death. She was also ordered deprived of her political rights for life. On May 30, 2013, the Yunnan Provincial Procuratorate began a post-conviction review of Renfeng's case, and almost two years later, on May 4, 2015, notified Renfeng that due to “facts are unclear and insufficient evidence" it would recommend her retrial to the Yunnan Provincial High Court. The investigation discovered a number of irregularities in Renfeng's alleged confession, including that her signature had been forged on some of the confession documents. The investigation also discovered that the child's autopsy showed the cause of death not been poisoning. On December 21, 2015 the Higher People’s Court of Yunnan province acquitted Renfeng after her retrial, on the basis there was insufficient evidence to prove her guilt. The Court stated the prosecution's case had many contradictions and presented unreasonable explanations regarding the origin of the poison and the time and method of placing it. Renfeng was released after more than 13 years and 10 months in custody. Renfeng filed a compensation claim for up to 9.55 million yuan (about US$1.45 million) in damages. On August 9, 2016 Renfeng was awarded compensation of 1.72 million yuan (US$258,915 at exchange rate on 8-9-2016)." |
Conviction Caused By: |
False confession extracted by torture of police officers. |
Innocence Proved By: |
"On December 21, 2015 the Higher People’s Court of Yunnan province acquitted Renfeng after her retrial." |
Defendant Aided By: |
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Compensation Awarded: |
"1.72 million yuan (Yunnan Province, 8-9-2016) (US$258,915 at exchange rate on 8-9-2016)." |
Was Perpetrator Identified? |
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Age When Imprisoned: |
17 |
Age When Released: |
31 |
Sex: |
Female |
Skin/Ethnicity: |
Chinese |
Information Source 1: |
"Wrongfully convicted woman freed in southwest China after 13 years in jail, By Gloria Chan, South China Morning Post, December 22, 2015" |
Information Location 1: |
http://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/1893871/wrongfully-convicted-woman-freed-southwest-china-after-13-years |
Information Source 2: |
"Righting wrongs adds trust in judicial system, By Staff writer, China Daily, December 23, 2015" |
Information Location 2: |
http://europe.chinadaily.com.cn/opinion/2015-12/23/content_22780423.htm |
Information Source 3: |
"The prosecution review of the identification results, www.towebs.org, July 20, 2015" |
Information Location 3: |
http://www.towebs.org/tag/ren-feng-qian |
Information Source 4: |
"Woman recalls her ordeal getting wrongful conviction overturned, By Xie Wenting, Global Times, January 5, 2016" |
Information Location 4: |
http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/961932.shtml |
Information Source 5: |
"Nurse receives 1.72 million yuan for spending 14 years in prison on wrongful murder conviction, By Sophie Wang, Shanghaiist.com, August 10, 2016" |
Information Location 5: |
http://shanghaiist.com/2016/08/10/14_years_prison_compensation.php |
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Comments About Case: |
Innocents Database Created and Maintained by Hans Sherrer innocents@forejustice.org