Nian Bin, who was acquitted and released on Aug 22 after being wrongly convicted four times, receives treatment at a Beijing hospital earlier this month.PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY

A man who was declared innocent after being in prison for eight years applied for State compensation of 15 million yuan ($2.4 million) at a court in Fujian province on Thursday.

"The wrong judgment has caused tremendous suffering to my brother and our whole family," Nian Jianlan, the elder sister of Nian Bin, told China Daily.

She said Nian Bin and his lawyer filed the application and the intermediate court in Fuzhou, Fujian province, accepted it.

"We don't care whether we get the compensation or not," she said. "Eight years of life cannot be bought back with money. We hope that by asking for compensation and an apology, the culprit judges can have more respect for life and the law."

Nian Bin also wants the court to apologize to him publicly through major media, Nian Jianlan said.

Nian Bin, 38, was arrested in 2006 after two of his neighbors in Pingtan county, Fujian, died from poisoning after having dinner. Police considered him a suspect in the case because he was not on good terms with the victims' family.

In February 2008, Nian was sentenced to death by the intermediate court in Fuzhou, and his appeal to the provincial high court was unsuccessful.

He was sentenced to death four times - three times by the intermediate court and once by the high people's court - until he was released in August of this year after the Fujian provincial high court declared him innocent.

wangxiaodong@chinadaily.com