HOHHOT - A man is to be prosecuted for a 1996 rape and murder after the teenager executed for the crime was found not guilty in a retrial, the procuratorate of north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region announced on Tuesday.

Zhao Zhihong was apprehended in 2005 and confessed to 17 rape and murder cases, including one in a public toilet in Hohhot in April 1996.

Zhao stood trial in late 2006 for the rape and murder of 10 women and girls between 1996 and 2005. No verdict has yet been issued.

Huugjilt, 18 at the time, was sentenced to death for the 1996 Hohhot crime and executed two months later in the middle of a sweeping national campaign to strike hard against violent crime. At that time, public security bureaus, procurators and courts were encouraged to take swift and severe measures in such cases.

On Monday, Huugjilt was acquitted of the crime because the evidence was questionable and inadequate. The prosecution of Zhao for the same offences was announced.

The procuratorate statement also established an investigation into the procuratorate staff responsible for their roles in the wrongful conviction 18 years ago.