Man declared innocent after spending 14 years in prison

Zhang Zhichao, who served 14 years in prison for rape, was found not guilty by a court in East China's Shandong province on Monday due to insufficient evidence after a retrial.

The Shandong High People's Court overturned an original verdict in which Zhang was given life imprisonment for raping a girl, and acquitted Zhang, now 30, as the evidence in the case was not strong enough to convict.

In January 2005, the body of a missing girl was found in a restroom at a high school in the province's Linshu county. In the following month, Zhang, then 16, was named as the suspect and detained by local police.

In March 2006, Zhang was convicted of rape and sentenced to life in prison by the Linyi Intermediate People's Court. Another man, Wang Guangchao, who was identified as having helped Zhang cover up the offense, was sentenced to three years with a three-year reprieve.

Zhang later said he was tortured during police interrogations.

After his mother's frequent appeals, the Supreme People's Court, China's top court, ordered the Shandong High People's Court to rehear the case in 2017.

On Dec 5, 2019, the court reheard the case, where provincial prosecutors suggested acquitting Zhang and Wang for insufficient evidence.