Sichuan rights activist Tan Zuoren was put on trial on charges of "inciting subversion of state power" in China’s southwestern Sichuan Province on Aug. 12, 2009. Witnesses who had been arranged to testify were blocked from coming by police, and allegedly beaten.
Tan had lobbied for a public investigation of the cause for the collapse of school buildings during the Sichuan earthquake in May 2008; he was one of many who argued that it was caused by corruption, known to be endemic in the Chinese Communist Party. The trial ended with no immediate ruling.
Before the trial, well-known artist Ai Weiwei, who had planned to testify for Tan, was reportedly assaulted by Chengdu police. During the trial Tan’s lawyers were repeatedly interrupted by the court while trying to make their defense statements. Three witnesses were also stopped from testifying.
The two lawyers argued that one of the reasons Tan was charged was because he did interviews with The Epoch Times and other overseas media.
Several hundred people came to the court in a show of support for Tan. Some were blocked from attending by police, however, according to people who were at the court.
Rights activist Liu Zhengyou said, “People from all circles came to Chengdu to support Tan. As many as 200 parents of students who died in the earthquake came as well. Some of them held pictures of their children who had perished during the earthquake and wept in grief. Approximately 200 to 300 policemen were positioned both inside and outside of the courtroom.”
Law specialist Xiao Han, one of many lawyers dissatisfied with the hearing, stated in his article entitled “Tan Zuoren, Human Rights Memorandum”: “The CCP acts as if it's being confronted with all possible dangers. The security check on lawyers is like undergoing a physical examination at the hospital.
“No spectators are allowed. Tan was not allowed to speak, his witnesses were beaten up, and his supporters’ personal freedom was restricted … all of which demonstrates that the dark forces the court represents are already at the end of the rope. They are frightened and anxious. Their days are numbered.”
Until recently, Tan Zuoren was the chief editor of Literati magazine. After last year’s Sichuan Earthquake, he published an open letter entitled “May 12 Students Record,” in the February 2009 issue of the magazine, calling for a thorough investigation into the quality of the materials used in the school buildings that collapsed during the earthquake.
In the letter, he advocated “making sure every class, every school, every township, every city, and every district provides a factual record of the students that were killed.”
He was accused of “incitement to subvert state power” on March 28, 2009, and is currently arrested and detained in the Wenzhou Labor Camp in Chengdu City.
Wang Dalian, another rights activist, said a reporter from Hong Kong TVB was effectively detained in her hotel room by police during the trial. The police said she was suspected to be involved with concealing drugs. They then searched her hotel room for the alleged drugs, a process that took several hours. No drugs were found.
