China paroles peace laureate for late-stage cancer treatment

China’s Nobel peace prize laureate Liu Xiaobo had been transferred from prison to a hospital for terminal cancer treatment, his lawyer said on Monday, but concerned supporters called for his unconditional release.

Liu, who has about three years of his 11-year sentence to serve, was diagnosed with latestage liver cancer on May 23 and granted medical parole days later, lawyer Mo Shaoping said.

The 61-year-old democracy campaigner was being treated at a hospital in the northeastern city of Shenyang, capital of Liaoning province, where he was imprisoned. The Liaoning Prison Administrative Bureau confirmed Liu’s parole.

“He has no special plans. He is just receiving medical treatment for his illness,” Mo said.

The writer was sentenced in 2009 for “subversion” after spearheading a bold petition for democratic reforms. He was awarded the Nobel prize while in jail a year later.

Liu is also known for his efforts to help negotiate the safe exit from Tiananmen Square of thousands of student demonstrators on June 3 and 4, 1989, when the military bloodily suppressed six weeks of protests.

Supporters demanded that Liu be granted the best medical care and criticised his treatment so far.

While the Nobel Committee said it was “delighted” to learn that Liu was finally freed, it “strongly regrets that it took serious illness before Chinese authorities were willing to release him from jail”. The committee called for his unconditional release and said he should be offered the best possible treatment in China or abroad.

Patrick Poon, China researcher at rights group Amnesty International, urged the authorities to ensure Liu had access to his family.

Poon also called for Liu and “all others imprisoned solely for exercising their human rights” to be immediately and unconditionally released. “Adding injury to insult, Liu Xiaobo has been diagnosed with a grave illness in prison, where he should never have been put in the first place,” Poon said.