BEIJING • A Chinese man applying for a certificate of no criminal record had his request denied when police told him he was in fact dead, having been executed a decade ago for kidnapping.
The man, a Guangzhou resident surnamed Chen, requested the document to apply for a job.
"The police told me that... I had committed the crime of kidnapping and the death sentence had already been carried out, so I was, technically speaking, dead," he said, according to Guangdong Radio and Television's social media account. The mix-up was the result of his having the same name and identification card number as a criminal executed in 2006.
Mr Chen, 45, said that he had lived a normal life until he applied for the background check, even receiving entry-exit permits for Hong Kong and Macau.
Police called him last week to explain the unusual situation, and finally issued him with his certificate last Friday.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE