CHINA. PUBLIC OUTCRY GROWING OVER PUNISHMENT, TORTURE OF SUSPECTS

it was reported that an unusual heated public debate had engulfed China over the wrongful conviction of a man for murder.
The case cast a spotlight on police using torture and beatings to extract confessions from criminal suspects, and the lack of effective appeal procedures. She Xianglin, 39, was released from prison earlier in April when it became obvious that he hadn't murdered his wife. She's wife disappeared in 1994 after a domestic dispute. Soon after, police found a decomposed female body in a nearby reservoir. Assuming it was the missing wife, they accused him of murder. After several rounds of interrogation, She confessed. He was sentenced to death, but that was reduced later to a 15-year prison term. She's wife actually had moved to Shandong province in the north where she married another man. The wife reappeared in Hubei province in late March 2005. She -- who was incarcerated nearly 11 years -- lost part of a finger and all his toenails under police control, and now had difficulty walking.