The 57-year-old poet and artist left Beijing bound for Berlin on Tuesday morning aboard a Finnair flight, friends say
Liu Xia, the widow of Chinese dissident and Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo, flew out of China bound for Germany on Tuesday morning, the South China Morning Post has learned.
The 57-year-old poet and artist had been under house arrest for more than seven years since her late husband was awarded the Nobel Prize in 2010 while in jail.
News of Liu Xia’s release came as Chinese Premier Li Keqiang is on a visit to Germany. He met German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday.
Liu Xiaobo died aged 61 in hospital on July 13 last year. He was the first Nobel Peace Prize winner to die in custody since German pacifist Carl von Ossietzky in 1938.
Liu left the country aboard a Finnair flight, her friends said.
Her younger brother, Liu Hui, was not on the plane, they said.
A source close to Western diplomats told the Post that Li raised the issue of Liu Xia during his meeting with Merkel.
“Li also promised [Merkel] that Liu will be released for medical treatment in a short time,” the person said.
