Dharamshala — Chinese Nobel Peace Prize winner known as 'China's conscience,' and it's most famous pro-democracy, human rights advocate and political prisoner, Liu Xiaobo, died of liver cancer in Chinese custody yesterday, while serving an 11-year prison sentence for "inciting subversion of state power." He was 61.
Dharamshala — Chinese Nobel Peace Prize winner known as 'China's conscience,' and it's most famous pro-democracy, human rights advocate and political prisoner, Liu Xiaobo, died of liver cancer in Chinese custody yesterday, while serving an 11-year prison sentence for "inciting subversion of state power." He was 61.
The writer and activist was serving his prison term when the Chinese government revealed he had cancer in late June, only after the illness was virtually beyond treatment. He was given medical parole, and passed away in the hospital with his wife on Thursday, July 13th.
A former literature professor, Xiaobo became a leader and avid activist during the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, for which he served two years in a labor camp. After helping write 2008's Charter 08 calling for democratic change and freedom of expression, he was given the 11-year sentence.
While called a criminal by Chinese authorities and imprisoned, on an international stage he was known for his passionate love and commitment to human rights. In 2010 he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his “long and non-violent struggle for fundamental human rights in China.” When the Chinese government refused to release him from prison to attend the ceremony, the award was presented to an empty chair.
Liu is just the latest example of China's blatant attempt to silence those revealing injustice in China and calling for basic freedoms.
Jared Genser, a U.S. lawyer representing Liu said yesterday, "It is clear today that the Chinese government has lost. Liu’s ideas and his dreams will persist, spread, and will, one day, come to fruition.”
"You want to bury him / Bury into the dirt / But you forget / He is a seed."
-Liu Xiaobo
12/28/1955 - 07/13/2017
