By Ji Beibei

A farmer in Henan Province who was found guilty and jailed for murder more than a decade ago has been exonerated after his "murder victim" was found alive and living at home, the Higher People's Court in the province announced Sunday.

The farmer, Zhao Zuohai, 57, was wrongly accused of murdering another villager, Zhao Zhenshang, 56, and spent 11 years in prison for a crime he did not commit.

The two had disputes over money and affairs with women, and when Zhao Zhenshang disappeared from the village 11 years ago, most villagers and even a local court believed Zhao Zuohai killed him.

The saga took a dramatic turn in late April when Zhao Zhenshang returned to the Zhaolou village, in Tuocheng county, to apply for medical insurance, leaving everyone in the village shocked.

"How could you come back to life?" asked Li Zhonghou, secretary of the village committee.

Upon the return of Zhao Zhenshang, authorities began an investigation of the false murder verdict.

Zhao Zuohai was detained in 1999 for murdering Zhao Zhenshang, and was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve by the Intermediate People's Court in Shangqiu in 2002, people.com reported Sunday.

In October 1997, the villagers of Zhaolou lost sight of Zhao Zhenshang. Police took in Zhao Zuohai for questioning because he had fought with the villager who later vanished.

Police later released Zhao Zuohai because there was no evidence proving his guilt.

Villagers found a headless and limbless body in a well two years later. Police again detained Zhao Zuohai, this time accusing him of murder.

Now that the "murder victim" has been found alive, investigators are trying to piece together an explanation for a travesty of justice in which an innocent man could have been put to death..

Zhao Zhenshang said he fled the village years ago after getting into a fight with Zhao Zuohai and attacking him several times.

The returned villager said he was angry with Zhao Zuohai because the latter owed him 1,800 yuan ($264), and had an adulterous affair with a woman.

Over the years, the returned villager made his living by collecting garbage. He was forced to return home for medical insurance because he suffers hemiplegy, a nerve disease resulting in paralysis.

The returned villager said he never knew that Zhao Zuohai was jailed for "killing" him.

"I thought I killed Zhao Zuohai (and I wanted to escape)," Zhao Zhenshang said.

The provincial high court said the wrongly accused Zhao is entitled to State compensa-tion.

An officer surnamed Zhang from the Tuocheng county public security bureau said he is not certain whether Zhao Zuohai was coerced into a confession.

Zhang told the Global Times that experts conducted DNA tests on the headless body found 10 years ago, but at that time could neither confirm nor deny that the torso was the body of Zhao Zhenshang.

Zhao's case was a Henan version of a similar case involving She Xianglin, a man from Hubei Province who served 11 years in prison after being wrongly convicted of murdering his wife. In 2005, the man received compensation of about 460,000 yuan ($67,385) , according to an earlier report by Modern Express.

The law on State compensation, adjusted at the end of April, says victims of wrongful imprisonment are entitled to compensation for their emotional pain and suffering in addition to payment for their physical hardship behind bars.