Murder confession case still unresolved

A high-profile case featuring a man confessing to rape and murder, for which another man was executed, is still unresolved following a second trial.

Nie Shubin was found guilty of rape and murder and was executed in Hebei province in 1995.

Wang Shujin, appealing his own death sentence, repeated a confession that he committed the rape and murder.

At the end of the trial hearing in Handan, Hebei province, Wang requested that the court accept his confession.

But prosecutors are unsure as the details Wang gave of the crimes are different from the crime scene report.

However, the court did not give a final decision and said judgment will be announced another day.

Zhu Aimin, Wang's lawyer, said after the second trial that he will wait until the court issues a judgment before deciding on an appeal.

Nie's mother, Zhang Huanzhi, was present at the two trials. She insisted that the victim's clothes provided by prosecutors were not the same as those that had been shown to them before.

Wang's case was first heard on June 25 when he made the confession.

However, when Wang was arrested in 2005, his confession sparked speculation among Nie's family and the public.

The court in Handan resumed the hearing, almost six years after it first heard Wang's case in 2007.