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Chinese Nobel laureate’s ashes scattered at sea

16 Jul, 2017 - 02:07 0 Views
Chinese Nobel laureate’s ashes scattered at sea

The Sunday News

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SHENYANG (China) — Deceased Chinese Nobel Peace Prize-winning dissident Liu Xiaobo’s ashes were scattered at sea yesterday, Liu’s brother said, in a move described by a family friend as an effort to erase any memory of him.

Liu (61), died of multiple organ failure on Thursday in a hospital in the north-eastern city of Shenyang, where he was being treated for late-stage liver cancer, having been given medical parole but not freed.

He had been jailed for 11 years in 2009 for “inciting subversion of state power” after helping to write a petition known as “Charter 08” calling for sweeping political reforms.

His widow, Liu Xia, has been under effective house arrest since her husband won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2010, but had been allowed to visit him in prison about once a month. She has never been formally charged with any crime.

Speaking at a government-arranged news conference, Liu Xiaobo’s eldest brother Liu Xiaoguang offered thanks several times to the Communist Party for its thoughtful care considering the dissident’s “special situation”.

“Why has Liu Xia not come here? Her health is very weak at the moment,” Liu Xiaoguang said, sitting in between an English-language interpreter and a Shenyang government official. “So she can’t come here. It’s very regretful.”

After speaking for about 20 minutes, Liu was escorted out by two unidentified women, an unlit cigarette in his mouth, and did not answer questions from journalists who surrounded him.

The government then showed reporters images of the ashes being scattered from a boat.

City government information official Zhang Qingyang said Liu Xia and Liu Xiaoguang had decided upon the scattering of ashes at sea. — Reuters

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