Tan Zuoren
| Tan Zuoren 谭作人/譚作人 |
|
|---|---|
| Born |
May 15, 1954 Chengdu, Sichuan, China |
| Nationality | Chinese |
| Occupation | human rights activist, writer |
| Criminal penalty | 5 years in jail and 3 years deprived of political rights |
| Criminal status | released |
| Conviction(s) | Inciting subversion of state power (February 9, 2010) |
| Comments | Tan Zuoren official blog |
Tan Zuoren (born May 15, 1954), from Chengdu, Sichuan province, People's Republic of China, is an environmentalist, writer and former editor of Literati magazine (文化人).
On February 9, 2010, Zuoren was sentenced to 5 years in prison for "inciting subversion of state power."Amnesty International Asia-Pacific Deputy Director said: “His arrest, unfair trial and now the guilty verdict are further disturbing examples of how the Chinese authorities use vague and over broad laws to silence and punish dissenting voices.” Due to the nature of the charges and circumstances of the trial, he has been described as a political prisoner.
After the 2008 Sichuan earthquake Tan came up with a proposal called the "5.12 Student Archive" (5·12学生档案) asking people who lost their children in the quake to set up a victim database. But for his trouble, Chengdu police searched his home and confiscated his DVDs, manuscripts and documents. Tan coined the expression「豆腐渣」(tofu dreg project) to describe the shoddy construction quality of Sichuan schools. On March 28, 2009 he was detained on allegations for subversion of state power. Tan Zuoren was formally accused of defaming the Communist Party of China in email comments about the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989.
According to the indictment, "The indicted Tan Zuoren is dissatisfied with the methods and verdict of the Party Central Committee concerning the “June Fourth Incident” and for many years by various methods has been involved in “June Fourth” activities. On May 27, 2007, Tan Zuoren concocted an article entitled “1989: A Witness to the Last Beauty: An Eyewitness’ Tiananmen Square Diary” and using the Internet put it on the website “Torch of Liberty” and other websites outside of China mainland. The main points of that article distorted the handling of the “June Fourth Incident” by the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party and libeled it. Shortly after that article was posted, the enemy element outside mainland China Wang Dan contacted him by email and on several occasions sent him propaganda materials about “June Fourth”
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