Serial killer, rapist sentenced to death in China

Beijing, Feb 9: A 42-year-old serial killer in China who was wrongfully exonerated earlier was today sentenced to death for multiple crimes, including the murder and rape of a woman in 1996.

The court deprived Zhao Zhihong, of political rights for life, fined him 53,000 yuan (USD 8,464).

Zhao was apprehended in 2005 and confessed to a string of rape and murder cases, including one in a public toilet in China's northern Hohhot city in 1996 that was pinned on 18-year-old teenager Huugjilt, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

Zhao first stood trial in late 2006 for raping and killing nine women and girls, seven other counts of rape, as well as robbery and larceny between 1996 and 2005.

The case drew national attention as Huugjilt, a factory worker, was wrongly convicted and executed for a rape and murder of woman in a public toilet in Hohhot committed by Zhao.

PTI