Tan Zuoren, an environmentalist and literary editor, is the lesser-known counterpart of Ai Weiwei in the investigation into the deaths of children in the 2008 Sichuan earthquake. In 2010 he was formally convicted ( and sentenced to five years in prison) for subversion because of his writings on Tiananmen Square, but his initial charges included his work recording information about the children who died in the 2008 earthquake.
According to an Amnesty International report, Mr. Ai was one of Mr. Tan’s defense witnesses, but was detained by authorities to prevent him from coming to the trial.
