Beijing, Dec 31 (IANS): The parents of a Chinese man who was wrongly convicted and executed in 1996 will receive state compensation totalling more than two million yuan (about $322,000), a court ruled Wednesday.

The verdict was delivered Wednesday morning to Li Sanren and Shang Aiyun, parents of Huugjilt, who was executed for rape and murder at age 18, Xinhua reported.

On Dec 15, 2014, the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Regional Higher People's Court overturned Huugjilt's previous conviction and ruled he was not guilty of rape and murder, saying that the facts of his case were unclear and evidence was inadequate.

The Intermediate People's Court of Hohhot found Huugjilt guilty of raping and murdering a woman in a public toilet in Hohhot April 9, 1996. He was sentenced to death and executed in June of the same year.

Doubts began to emerge in 2005, when suspected serial rapist and killer, Zhao Zhihong, confessed to the murder.

Zhao allegedly raped and killed 10 women and girls between 1996 and 2005. He was tried in late 2006, but no verdict has been issued.