Sichuan court upholds subversion verdict

• Source: Global Times
• [03:24 June 10 2010]
• Comments

By Lin Meilian

Tan Zuoren, who was sentenced to five years in prison for "inciting the subversion of State power," lost his appeal Wednesday.

The Chengdu Intermediate People's Court in Sichuan Province rejected the appeal by Tan, 55, who was sentenced in February.

"The result is disappointing, yet the verdict did not surprise us," Tan's lawyer Pu Zhiqiang told the Global Time Tuesday.

"Tan seemed calm as I saw a light smile on his face."

In the original verdict, the court said Tan had wantonly distorted, slandered and defamed the government's handling of the June 4 incident in 1989 in his published essays to instigate people in China and abroad to antagonize the government. It said Tan did not have any objective facts in the writings.

The verdict also said Tan made many comments to defame the Party and the government during interviews with overseas media in a magnitude-8.0 earthquake that shook Sichuan Province in 2008.

No one from the court was available for comment Wednesday.

Tan's daughter, Li Chang, who was not allowed into the court, told the Global Times Wednesday that she was not surprised by the appeal verdict but was disappointed.

She believed her father did nothing wrong.

She also said police removed her after she tried to take photographs outside the court.

"They asked what I was shooting, I said my dad is inside the court, then they took me away, grabbed my camera and deleted the images," she said.