The higher court in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region on Thursday officially began the retrial of a controversial 1996 rape and murder case.

The presiding judge with Inner Mongolia Higher People's Court, Bobatu, issued a retrial in absentia notice to the parents of Huugjilt, who had been found guilty of raping and murdering a woman in a public toilet in Hohhot on April 9, 1996.

Huugjilt, who was 18 at the time, was sentenced to death and executed in June 1996.

However, since his execution, another alleged serial rapist and killer, Zhao Zhihong, confessed to the murder after he was arrested in 2005.

President of the higher court, Hu Yifeng, earlier this month said any errors in the previous ruling, should there have been any, must be addressed.

The higher court will hold a press conference on Thursday regarding the case.