Dying Nobel laureate freed

– China’s Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo, pictured, has been transferred on parole from prison to a hospital for terminal cancer treatment, his lawyer said yesterday, but concerned supporters called for his unconditional release.

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

The 61-year-old democracy campaigner was being treated at a hospital in the northeastern city of Shenyang, where he was imprisoned.

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 and was represented by an empty chair at the ceremony in Oslo.

Supporters demanded 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”.

It added: “The Chinese authorities carry a heavy responsibility if Liu Xiaobo, because of his imprisonment, has been denied necessary medical treatment.”

The committee called for his unconditional release and said he should get the best possible treatment in China or abroad.

Liu’s release was not reported by state media and his name remained blocked from searches on the Weibo social media website. Asked about Liu’s parole, foreign ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang told a regular news briefing: “I am not aware of the situation you’re talking about.”

Liu is one of only three people who won the Nobel award while jailed by their own government.

China strongly condemned the prize as foreign interference in its internal affairs. Diplomatic ties and trade talks between Beijing and Oslo were frozen.

The international community has for years been calling for Liu’s release.

Liu was arrested in 2008 after co-writing Charter 08, a bold petition that called for the protection of basic human rights and reform of China’s one-party Communist system. Liu’s wife, Liu Xia, who has been under house arrest since 2010, had a heart attack in 2014 and was diagnosed with depression, a rights group said. – AFP