Zhang Zhichao and his mother, Ma Yuping, leave court on Jan 13, 2020 in Zibo, Shandong province, after he was found not guilty in a retrial of a rape case that had sent him to prison at age 16. [Photo by Wang Hanbing/For China Daily]

Zhang Zhichao, who served 14 years in prison for rape, was found not guilty in a retrial by a court in Shandong province on Jan 13 due to insufficient evidence.

The Shandong High People's Court overturned the original ruling, in which Zhang was convicted of raping a girl and sentenced to life imprisonment. He was acquitted on Monday because the evidence was found insufficient to support his conviction.

After the court announced he was free, Zhang, now 30, left the courtroom, embraced his mother, Ma Yuping, and said, "I couldn't control myself when I heard I was found innocent, and all the past tough days came to my mind at that moment."

On Jan 10, 2005, a school student surnamed Gao was found missing, and a month later, a teacher discovered her body in a restroom at a high school in Linshu county, Shandong.

In the following days, Zhang, then 15, was interrogated by local police and then named as the suspect and detained.

On March 6, 2006, the Linyi Intermediate People's Court in the province convicted Zhang of rape and gave him a life sentence. At the same time, Wang Guangchao, Zhang's classmate, was found to have helped him cover up the crime and was sentenced to three years with a three-year reprieve.

Zhang and Wang did not appeal to a higher court at the time "because they were too young and frightened by the ruling," Wang Dianxue, Zhang's lawyer, told China Daily on Monday.

"After learning about law in prison, my client realized that he could protect his legitimate rights by rule of law, so he told his mother, Ma Yuping, when she visited him in prison in 2011 that he had confessed to the crime because he was tortured during the police interrogation," the lawyer said.

Ma began appealing for her son, but the appeals were successively rejected by the Shandong intermediate and then high courts in 2012.

Five years later, the Supreme People's Court, China's top court, ordered after a review that the Shandong High People's Court to retry the case. The public rehearing opened on Dec 5, 2019, and the provincial prosecutors suggested acquitting Zhang and Wang for insufficient evidence.

"It's gratifying to see the high people's court correct the judicial misconduct, and it's the best way for Zhang and Wang, as well as their families, to feel justice," said Wang Dianxue, the lawyer.

"The police didn't find any physical evidence, such as Zhang's semen or hair, at the scene, so it was a mistake to detain the student based only on his confession at that time," he said.

He noted that he and Zhang's family will apply for state compensation for the wrongful conviction. "We're going to apply for more in compensation, because Zhang was a minor and suffered greater emotional damage when he was wrongly convicted," he said, adding that an exact amount is still pending.

Zhang is planning to learn some technical skills so he can support himself, the lawyer said.

Wang Guangchao, the other wrongfully convicted man, is a driver in Ningbo, Zhejiang. He was very thankful for those helping the two in the appeal and said he would also apply for compensation.