Beijing: An alleged serial killer's trial in a rape and murder case, which reopened after eight years following disclosure of wrong conviction and execution of an innocent man began in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region on Monday.

The suspect Zhao Zhihong stands accused of murder, rape, robbery and larceny. He was apprehended in 2005 and confessed to 17 rape and murder cases, including one in a public toilet in Hohhot in 1996, the Hohhot Intermediate People's Court said.

The Hohhot case made headline 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 family was offered compensation of USD 322,000. Zhao first stood trial in late 2006 for the rape and murder of 10 women and girls between 1996 and 2005.

No verdict has yet been issued.