Three individuals detained in connection with a rape and killing case over 20 years ago had their names cleared on Sunday after a retrial ruled that there was insufficient evidence to prove their convictions.

The Supreme People's Court, China's top court, overturned an original ruling that had given a suspended death sentence and life imprisonment to Che Chao and Li Yong, respectively, for rape and the intentional killing of a girl.

The top court declared the pair not guilty because the confessions and testimonies in the original verdict were obtained through illegal methods, and the footprint analysis was based on flawed samples. Furthermore, it revealed that newly obtained physical evidence and DNA analysis have indicated that the true perpetrator is someone else.

It also announced that Xie Guangying did not commit perjury in the case and was therefore acquitted.

In January 2000, a then-16-year-old girl in a village of Guoyang county, Anhui province, was found raped and killed. In August that year, Che Chao, from the same village, was named as a suspect, and soon he and three others — Che Xuefeng, Li Yong, and Jing Xianzhu — were taken into custody, according to media reports.

In December 2001, a grassroots court in Anhui sentenced Che Chao and Jing to death for rape and intentional homicide, with a life sentence for Che Xuefeng and Li, who was under the age of 18, for the same charges. Additionally, Xie, Che Xuefeng's mother, was sentenced to two years in prison for perjury.

The four men and the woman were unsatisfied with the ruling and appealed to the Anhui High People's Court. In 2002, the high court sent the case back to the lower court for rehearing due to insufficient evidence.

In 2003, the grassroots court changed Jing's sentence to death with a two-year reprieve, but kept the original sentences for Che Chao, Che Xuefeng, Li, and Xie. The case was soon sent back again to the grassroots court for retrial.

In 2004, Jing and Che Xuefeng had their names cleared for insufficient evidence, but the original sentences for Che Chao, Li, and Xie were not changed.

Che Chao and Li appealed again. The high court later gave a suspended death sentence to Che Chao and sentenced Li to life in prison.

Although the three individuals served their sentences, they continued appealing to authorities to prove their innocence, with materials provided to prosecutors to request them to review whether the original ruling was correct.

On Sunday, the top court announced at the grassroots court in Anhui, where the original verdict was made, that Che Chao and Li, like Jing and Che Xuefeng, were also not guilty of raping and killing that girl, and no evidence proved Xie's conviction of perjury.

"The wrong convictions and sentences to those people should be corrected," the top court added.