Four alleged murderers in southeast China's Fujian have been acquitted after spending 22 years in jail. It comes just days after the release of another man from Sichuan who'd been wrongfully convicted.

Four alleged murderers Xu Jinlong, Zhang Meilai Cai Jinsen and Xu Yusen. [Photo: oeeee.com]

Thursday's rehearing by the Higher People's Court of Fujian ended with the four defendants cleared of charges and their original sentences overturned.

Cai Jinsen was among them.

"When the acquittal was announced, I felt relieved. There were many things I wanted to speak out about, but I decided not to do so."

Cai Jinsen, along with Xu Jinlong, Zhang Meilai and Xu Yusen were arrested in 1994 in connection with the death of a 66-year-old man in the province’s Putian City.

In June the year after, Cai was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve, while the others, initially sentenced to death, had their penalties suspended in April 1999.

Cai was released in August 2014, while the other three remained in jail until Thursday.

At the rehearing, the court said it had found some witness testimony contradictory and possible forgery concerning the finger prints of a key witness.

Mao Lixin, one of the lawyers for the defendants, hailed the acquittal.

"They were convicted largely based on testimonies without any physical evidence available against them. Neither their fingerprints nor the tools they used in the killing have been found."

The acquittal is seen the latest success in China's enhanced efforts against wrongful convictions.

It comes just days after the release of Sichuan native, Chen Man, who had been wrongfully jailed for over two decades on arson and murder charges.

There have been calls for greater efforts to improve accountability in China's legal system.

But Yi Yanyou, Chen Man's lawyer, suggests the priority should be given to having appeal procedures streamlined.

"A retrial is usually required to be completed within a certain period. But there is no time limit for a court to reply, to say whether they accept a retrial application. So in many cases, there would be an endless wait for such a court reply."

Yi added that it even becomes a mission impossible as a retrial application would be reviewed in the first instance by the court that gave the original sentence, which is naturally reluctant to see a retrial.

At the same time, the lawyer also called for attention to be paid to the root cause of the problem.

"Wrongful convictions are taking place while we are trying to correct previous ones. So it's much more urgent to think about how we can prevent wrongful conviction at the very beginning and protect the rights of suspects in an investigation."

As yet, all the four defendants in Putian have applied for state compensation.

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