Zhao Zhihong (C Front), who was apprehended in 2005 and confessed to 17 rape and murder cases, is on trial at the Intermediate People's Court in Hohhot, capital of north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Jan. 5, 2015. The trial of an alleged serial killer began Monday in Hohhot. The case has been reopened more than eight years after his first trial. (Xinhua/Shao Kun)
HOHHOT, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) -- The trial of an alleged serial killer began Monday in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. The case was reopened more than eight years after his first trial.
Zhao Zhihong, 42, stands accused of murder, rape, robbery and larceny, the Hohhot Intermediate People's Court said.
Monday morning's session focused on Zhao's robbery and larceny charges. It was open to the public.
Prosecutors charged Zhao with robbing a man surnamed Chi in a residential community in the regional capital of Hohhot on May 19, 1996.
Zhao was also accused of stealing cash and property, including a gold ring, between 1998 and 2000, which were valued at more than 3,000 yuan (490 U.S. dollars) in total.
Zhao confessed to most of the alleged robbery and theft, but denied he stole the gold ring. His lawyers, Xie Fei and Zhang Ruijun, argued that the evidence was inadequate.
Zhao was apprehended in 2005 and confessed to a string of rape and murder cases, including one in a public toilet in Hohhot in 1996.
The Hohhot case made headlines recently, as a higher court ruled in December 2014 that teenager Huugjilt, who was sentenced to death and executed for the crime, was innocent.
Huugjilt's parents, who also attended the trial on Monday morning, received state compensation totaling more than 2 million yuan after their son's acquittal.
Zhao first stood trial in late 2006 for raping and killing nine women and girls and raping seven others as well as robbery and larceny between 1996 and 2005.
Zhao's trial continued on Monday afternoon, but was not open to the public for privacy reasons as proceedings focused on the rape and murder cases.
