Chinese woman compensated for wrong murder conviction

Beijing, Aug 9 (IANS) A Chinese woman received a compensation 1.72 million yuan ($258,300) on Tuesday for a wrongful murder conviction that put her in jail for 13 years.

The Higher People's Court of Yunnan ruled that Qian Renfeng's confession was made under duress and that she was not guilty of the murder charge she was convicted for in February 2002, Xinhua news agency reported.

Qian, who worked at a nursery and prepared the children's meals the day a toddler died of food poisoning, was forced into confessing that she had mixed raticide in the food.

In May 2015, the Yunnan provincial procuratorate ruled there was lack of evidence to support the conviction and advised the provincial higher court to rehear the case.

The higher court in December 2015 quashed the sentence, ruling that it lacked sufficient evidence to determine guilt beyond reasonable doubt after which she was exonerated and released.