Amnesty has said that “Liu Xia has arrived in Germany.”

But… who is Liu Xia?

We invite you to retrace the journey of the Nobel Laureate “Liu Xiaobo”’s family, in honour of it being one year since his passing. Let’s see the impact that one ordinary person with the extraordinary courage to speak up and fight for peace can have on the world.

Liu Xiaobo was a professor at Peking University, writing books on Chinese society and culture. During the Tiananmen square protests, he helped his university students conduct the protests in a peaceful manner, but in turn was sentenced to prison by the Chinese authorities for 21 months.

Following that, Liu Xiaobo continued to work as an academic on the topics of democracy and human rights. However, he found himself jailed for three years to a labour camp, for his criticisim of the Chinese government’s policies towards the Dalai Lama, a renowned spiritual leader in Taiwan and Tibet.

Liu Xiaobo po calls for political reform in China, but has been sentenced to 11 years in charge of "inciting subversion of state power" due to his involvement in the “Charter 08” manifesto. 

Whilst Liu Xiaobo was imprisoned, he learnt through his attorney that he had received the Nobel Peace Prize, but was unable to attend the ceremony personally. He was the first Chinese citizen to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, with the committee stating that “although he has been severely pushed, Liu has become a one of the boldest symbols in the fight for human rights in China.”

Other than that, the Human Rights Watch organization awarded Liu Xiabo the Alison Des Forges Award in recognition of his unrelenting bravery in the battle for freedom of expression and the right to protest in China.

Meanwhile, Liu Xia, the poet and artist wife of Liu Xiabo was also under illegal house arrest, under close surveillance by the government. The

only method she had of communicating with the outside world was through telephone calls.

Liu Xia, in her capacity as his wife, wrote a letter to the Xi Jinping government, to protest being illegally confined to her house.

Amnesty, other Nobel Laureates and other democracy and human rights advocates worldwide demanded that Chinese authorities release Liu Xiaobo. The desire for this was increased after learning that Liu Xiabo had been diagnosed with terminal liver cancer, but had not been receiving adequate treatment.

In the duration of Liu Xia’s illegal house arrest, she suffered from a heart attack and was subsequently diagnosd with heart disease. However, the government did not allow Liu Xia to receive adequate treatment either.

Liu Xiaobo passed away on July 13, 2017 due to the organ failure. Earlier, experts had determined that Liu Xiaobo was fit enough to travel abroad to seek adequate medical treatment, but the Chinese authorities had refused his requests to do so

Amnesty worldwide expresses our condolences to the passing of Liu Xiaobo, who was a significant figure to inspire others fighting for human rights

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