A Chinese woman, believed to have been murdered in the 1980s, reappeared, alive, 16 years after her alleged killer was executed.

Judicial authorities are under immense pressure to rectify the case, somehow.

Shi Xiaorong, declared by police a "murder victim" in April 1987 in Mayang County in central Hunan Province, said she was actually cheated and sold to be someone's wife in eastern Shandong Province in March that year. This was a month before a dismembered body was found in a local river. Police claimed it was Shi's corpse.

Butcher Teng Xingshan was convicted of the murder as the police said the dismemberment technique was "very professional." The unfortunate man was executed in 1989 despite his pleas of innocence.

According to police investigation records, the story was that Teng and Shi were having an affair, and Teng killed Shi when he suspected her of stealing his money.

But Shi, who is now in a Guizhou jail for drug trafficking, said she and Teng did not know each other. She urged the Hunan judiciary to declare Teng's case a miscarriage of justice.

Shi returned to her hometown in Hunan's neighboring Guizhou Province in 1993. Teng's relatives were told that she was still alive one year later. But it took them years to verify the information and they had neither the funds nor the courage to sue the judiciary until last month. Teng's son and daughter have filed a lawsuit with the Hunan Higher People's Court.

The 1989 verdict of the court reads that "Teng confessed his crime on his initiative and his confession conforms with scientific inspection and identification." Whether torture was used to force his confession is still not known.

This case comes just two months after a man who served 11 years in prison for "murdering" his wife was declared innocent, two weeks after the "victim" reappeared in their hometown in central Hubei Province.

Former security guard She Xianglin claimed he was deprived of sleep during the 10-day interrogation until he signed documents "confessing" to the murder. He is now suing the government.

(Xinhua News Agency June 17, 2005)