The mother of Nie Shubin, who was executed in 1995 after being convicted of raping and killing a woman in Shijiazhuang, Hebei province, left a court on Wednesday with copies of all the files related to her son's case.
Zhang Huanzhi, 70, had been granted full access to the files for the first time. She was accompanied by her two lawyers as she read and copied the documents at Shandong High People's Court, and it took them two days to complete their work.
"I want to tell Shubin that I am doing everything I can to fight for his innocence. The Shandong court has given me hope," said Zhang.
One of her lawyers, Li Shuting, said, "For the first time, I saw smiles on Zhang's face."
Nie was executed at the age of 21. In 2005, Wang Shujin, who was wanted in connection with three other rape-murder cases, confessed to the crime. Zhang then started campaigning to clear her son's name. However, despite more than 50 requests from her lawyers, the Hebei High People's Court refused to show them the complete documents.
In December, the Supreme People's Court transferred the case to the Shandong court.
The move is seen as a major development in the case by Li, who has been representing the family for the past 10 years.
Zhang said: "The Shandong court not only allowed my lawyers to read Nie Shubin's case files but also Wang's case files. I believe the judges will give me justice."
Li said, "The case is 100 percent a wrongful execution."
Li and the family's second lawyer, Chen Guangwu, read three volumes of Nie's files, eight volumes of Wang's files and six volumes of files covering reinvestigations of the case.
The verdict on Nie still stands because the Hebei High Court, which approved the death penalty, rejected Wang's claim that he was the murderer.
