Activist on trial for subversion

CHENGDU: Tan Zuoren, who had been investigating the deaths of students in last year's Sichuan earthquake, stood trial yesterday for subversion.

Tan, a 55-year-old local resident, was accused of telling lies to foreign media organizations after the quake and so "greatly staining the image of the government and the Party," according to the indictment offered by Tan's lawyer Pu Zhiqiang.

Tan was also believed to have written essays about the June 4 incident in 1989 and to have contacts with overseas activists, the court paper says.