Liu Xiaobo and his wife, Liu Xia in Beijing, China, 2000. Photo: http://liuxiaobo.eu/
Liu Xiaobo, Nobel Peace Prize Winner, "China's conscience" and its most famous pro-democracy advocate and political prisoner has died of liver cancer in Chinese custody while serving an 11-year prison sentence for "inciting subversion of state power." He was 61. A longtime leader of the non-violent struggle for human rights, Xiaobo steadfastly denounced hatred and praised freedom of expression as "the source of humanity, the mother of truth." Despite "the tragedy that Liu’s freedom has come from his death," said Jared Genser, a U.S. lawyer representing Liu, "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.”
A former literature professor, Xiaobo was a leader of 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. In court before his 2009 sentencing, he read a statement to "tell the regime that deprives me of my freedom" - its police, prosecutors and judges - "I have no enemies, and no hatred." He also spoke of his fierce love for his wife Liu Xia, now under house arrest; for him she was "all the beauty in the world," he wrote, and "even if I am crushed into powder, I will embrace you with ashes." Since then, he hadn’t been heard from publicly.
"You want to bury him / Bury into the dirt / But you forget / He is a seed."
Today we mourn human rights champion #LiuXiaobo. With courage and dignity, he inspired millions in China and globally. pic.twitter.com/k2zgF9AoyL
SCROLL TO CONTINUE WITH CONTENT
Never Miss a Beat.
Get our best delivered to your inbox.
— AmnestyInternational (@amnesty) July 13, 2017