'Dead' man still lives

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

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on August 10, 2016, with the headline 'Dead' man still lives. Subscribe