Four men jailed in China more than two decades ago for murder were acquitted Thursday, state media reported, the latest in a series of wrongful convictions overturned in the country.

The sentences were reversed by a provincial high court in southern Fujian province, the official Xinhua news agency said.

The men were convicted in relation to the 1994 murder of a 66-year-old man. Five years later, they were given a suspended death sentence, it said.

Xu Jinlong, Zhang Meilai, Xu Yusen and Cai Jinsen appealed their verdicts and were granted a retrial in 2014, according to the report.

The court, it said, invalidated the sentences after it "found some witness testimony contradictory and possible forgery of the finger prints of a key witness" and the men were freed after 22 years.

The case is the latest to highlight miscarriages of justice in China, where forced confessions are widespread and more than 99 percent of criminal defendants are found guilty.

China's courts are tightly controlled by the ruling Communist Party, which has vowed to overturn mistaken verdicts in the face of widespread public anger.

On Monday, the high court in eastern Zheijiang ordered the release of another man, Chen Man, who had been jailed for over two decades on murder charges.

Of those exonerated in recent years, Chen had spent the longest time in prison, 23 years, state media said. For others, the new verdicts have come too late.

A court in the Inner Mongolia region in 2014 cleared a man named Hugjiltu, who was convicted, sentenced and executed for rape and murder in 1996 at the age of 18.

The declaration of innocence came nine years after another man confessed to the crime.

Twenty-seven officials in China have been "penalised" for his wrongful execution, state news agency Xinhua reported late Sunday.

But only one person will face criminal prosecution, it added, with 26 others facing lighter "administrative penalties".

Former top Chinese cop charged with murder
Beijing (AFP) Feb 4, 2016 - A former regional police chief in China has been indicted with murder and multiple other offences, the country's top prosecution agency said, with his victim reportedly a girlfriend more than three decades his junior.

Zhao Liping, 64, has been charged with murder, bribery and possession of firearms and explosives, the Supreme People's Procuratorate said in a statement.

Zhao headed the police in Inner Mongolia for seven years until he retired in 2012, and was also a deputy head of the northern region's government.

He was detained last year in Chifeng on suspicion of killing a 28-year-old woman with whom he "had an intimate relationship" because she wanted to expose his wrongdoings, Chinese media said earlier.

The woman reportedly survived Zhao's first two shots and fled before he chased her down in a car and shot her in the head.

Many fallen Chinese officials have been found to have mistresses, and corruption investigations have often been triggered by allegations from spurned or angry women.

Liu Tienan, a former top Chinese economic planning official, was convicted of bribery and jailed for life after his mistress gave incriminating information to a journalist who posted online her accusations of shady business deals, fake academic credentials and death threats.

The Supreme People's Procuratorate said in a statement Wednesday that Zhao was suspected of "intentionally causing the death of one person" and "taking advantage of his position as head of the Inner Mongolia police to seek gains for and illegally accepted enormous amount of money from others".

He also kept guns, ammunition and explosives in violation of the law, it said.