Tan Kai (

Chinese Chinese may refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people identified with China, through nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **Han Chinese, East Asian ethnic group native to China. **'' Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic ...

: 谭凯; born 1973) is a Chinese

computer technician A computer repair technician is a person who repairs and maintains computers and servers. The technician's responsibilities may extend to include building or configuring new hardware, installing and updating software packages, and creating and ...

and an

environmental activist The environmental movement (sometimes referred to as the ecology movement) is a social movement that aims to protect the natural world from harmful environmental practices in order to create sustainable living. In its recognition of humanity a ...

from

Zhejiang ) , translit_lang1_type2 = , translit_lang1_info2 = ( Hangzhounese) ( Ningbonese) (Wenzhounese) , image_skyline = 玉甑峰全貌 - panoramio.jpg , image_caption = View of the Yandang Mountains , image_map = Zhejiang i ...

province. He operated his own company, called Lanyi Computer Repair, and co-founded an environmental advocacy and monitoring

NGO A non-governmental organization (NGO) is an independent, typically nonprofit organization that operates outside government control, though it may get a significant percentage of its funding from government or corporate sources. NGOs often focus ...

called Green Watch ( 绿色观察). He was convicted in May 2006 for "illegally obtaining state secrets."

Activism

Tan became interested in environmental issues following April 2005's violent struggles over pollution and corruption in the town of Huashui, Zhejiang, where many residents believe that releases of toxic substances from chemical plants into the water supply are destroying crops and causing birth defects. Further riots in

Dongyang Dongyang () is a county-level city under the jurisdiction of Jinhua in Central Zhejiang Province, China. It covers an area of and administers eleven towns, one township, and six subdistricts. It is part of the Yangtze River Delta Economic Regi ...

, in

Xinchang Xinchang County () is a county in the east-central part of Zhejiang province, administratively under the municipal government of Shaoxing Shaoxing is a prefecture-level city on the southern shore of Hangzhou Bay in northeastern Zhejiang pro ...

(over a pharmaceutical factory), and at a battery factory in

Changxin Changxin may refer to: * Zhang Changxin (died 1990), champion boxer in Shanghai * ChangXin Memory Technologies, a Chinese semiconductor integrated device manufacturer * Changxin palace lantern, Chinese national treasure See also * Changxing (dis ...

, convinced Tan to set up an

environmental monitoring Environmental monitoring is the processes and activities that are done to characterize and describe the state of the environment. It is used in the preparation of environmental impact assessments, and in many circumstances in which human activit ...

group, which he did informally in the summer of that year, together with five other individuals: Mr. Lai Jinbiao, Mr. Gao Haibing, Mr. Wu Yuanming, Mr. Qi Huimin, and Mr. Yang Jianming. Because in order to operate lawfully as a local organization China requires a large staff, an office, and a large sum of money, in October 2005 Tan opened an account at a branch of Bank of China in Hangzhou with the sum of 500 yuan. When all six members of Green Watch were detained and released on October 19, Tan was charged and kept in custody. Although Tan was ostensibly arrested and charged with "illegally obtaining state secrets" after performing a routine backup on a computer belonging to a member of the Zhejiang Communist Party committee, Green Watch was declared illegal and banned one month later. Tan's friend and fellow activist Lai Jinbiao believes Tan was held because his name was the one on the bank account. On November 15, 2005, the Zhejiang provincial government declared Green Watch an illegal organization.

Imprisonment

Tan was held incommunicado for nearly seven months until May 9, 2006. During this time, his father engaged two Beijing-based lawyers, Li Heping and Li Xiongbing, to defend Tan, but the Hangzhou Public Security Bureau denied permission to engage counsel because the case involved state secrets. The elder Tan persisted with another application, and Li was finally able to meet with Tan for one hour at the

West Lake The West Lake (; ) is a freshwater lake in Hangzhou, China. Situated to the west of Hangzhou's former Hangzhou City Walls, walled city, the lake has a surface area of , stretching from north to south and from east to west. In the lake are four ...

Detention Centre in

Hangzhou Hangzhou, , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ; formerly romanized as Hangchow is a sub-provincial city in East China and the capital of Zhejiang province. With a population of 13 million, the municipality comprises ten districts, two counti ...

Trial

Although Tan pleaded innocent and no evidence of any crime was presented (the person from whom the secrets were supposedly taken did not appear), he was convicted in a three-hour trial at the Xihu District Court in Hangzhou, on the morning of May 15, 2006, which was closed to the public. He was sentenced to 18 months in prison for "illegally obtaining state secrets" by the Hangzhou Municipal People's Intermediate Court on August 11, 2006. His lawyer Li Heping raised concerns about Tan's health condition in prison, as he suffers from a liver disease.

Release

Tan was released in 2007 following the serving of his full 18-month sentence.

References

External links

Environmental Activists Detained in HangzhouUpdate about detention"China begins trial of environmentalist"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tan, Kai 1973 births Chinese environmentalists Living people Chinese prisoners and detainees People from Zhejiang Date of birth missing (living people)