When it comes to the earthquake-collapsed schools in Sichuan, it seems as if asking for answers is asking for trouble. China sentenced Tan Zuoren, an activist who called attention to poorly constructed schools, to five years in prison Tuesday, according to news reports.

Tan was ostensibly charged with subversion for comments he made 2007, but Amnesty International’s Rosann Rife told the Christian Science Monitor the sentence was “a warning to others” not to get too involved in government issues. Although Tan’s lawyer, Pu Zhiqiang, tried to cite his activism as a possible reason for the charges, all mention was removed from the verdict “because they are afraid of referring to it,” he told the Guardian.

“Tan’s earthquake work was not mentioned in the verdict because of concern he would have too much public support on this issue,” Rife is quoted as saying in the Christian Science Monitor article. “The message is that civil society can participate, if at all, only under the government’s guidance and with its permission.”

Although an official count has never been released, thousands of school children are thought to have died when shoddily built schools collapsed during the Sichuan earthquake last May. Many protested openly, claiming the lack of safety was the result of corrupt officials and lackadaisical building practices. In some places, such as Dujiangyan, schools completely collapsed while surrounding buildings were unharmed.

Demonstrations by grieving parents were continually quashed by police, especially as China prepared for the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics, according to multiple news reports (New York Times, National Public Radio, The Guardian, among others). In some cases, parents were offered the equivalent of nearly $9,000 if they agreed not to speak about the condition of the schools.

Since then, activists such as Tan have been jailed and their supporters detained and beaten, according to multiple reports. Another man who investigated the school construction, Huang Qi, was sentenced in November to three years for possessing state secrets, according to a related Guardian article.

Both Tan and Huang are well known for their activism in environmental issues and have spoken out in opposition to the government response to the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests. Still, supporters feel it was their recent work with the school collapse that has led to their imprisonment.

“Tan Zuoren received such a serious punishment only for believing or writing in his [online] diaries that there were problems with the earthquake,” activist and supporter Ai Weiwei told the Guardian. “It is ridiculous. Though China claims to the world that it is a major country, the case just shows how fragile and lacking in confidence it is."