Tan Zuoren

"[2] 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.”[3] Due to the nature of the charges and circumstances of the trial, he has been described as a political prisoner.

[4][5] 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.

[1] Tan Zuoren was formally accused of defaming the Chinese Communist Party in email comments about the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre.

By looking through all of Tan Zuoren’s writings, one can see that he is a person who passionately loves the people, supports democracy, and is opposed to autocracy.

Those who govern Sichuan in the future should deeply reflect upon this.” Contemporary artist Ai Weiwei, who travelled to Chengdu to testify, said he and 10 other volunteers were woken up by police entering their hotel rooms at 3 am dawn on August 12.

[8] Amnesty International said he was detained because he planned to issue an independent report on the collapse of school buildings during the Sichuan earthquake.

"[8] Tan's trial began a week after another earthquake activist, Huang Qi, was tried on state secrets charges in Chengdu; he was convicted and sentenced to three years' imprisonment on November 23, 2009.