Home GRASP GRASP/China China grants parole to jailed Nobel laureate hit by liver cancer

China grants parole to jailed Nobel laureate hit by liver cancer

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BEIJING • China’s jailed Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo has been granted medical parole after being diagnosed with terminal liver cancer last month, his lawyer said yesterday..
BEIJING • China’s jailed Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo has been granted medical parole after being diagnosed with terminal liver cancer last month, his lawyer said yesterday.
Mr Liu, who had about three years of his 11-year sentence left to serve, was diagnosed on May 23 and was released days later, said his lawyer, Mr Mo Shaoping. The 61-year-old democracy campaigner was being treated at a hospital in the north-eastern city of Shenyang.
“He has no special plans. He is just receiving medical treatment for his illness, ” Mr Mo said.
The writer was jailed in 2009 for “inciting subversion of state power” after spearheading a bold petition for democratic reforms.
He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize a year later, becoming China’s only winner of the prestigious prize. China strongly condemned the Nobel award, calling it unwanted foreign interference in its internal affairs, and refused to allow him to attend the ceremony in Oslo. The award was presented to an empty chair, which later became a symbol of China’s repression.
Asked about Mr Liu’s release, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told a regular news briefing: “I am not aware of the situation you’re talking about.

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