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Rights Groups, Nobel Commission Express Regret Over Liu's Death

by VOA News

   U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is calling for China to release
   Liu Xiaobo's widow from house arrest Thursday.

   "I call on the Chinese government to release Liu Xia from house arrest
   and allow her to depart China, according to her wishes," he said in a
   statement hours after the Nobel Laureate's death.

   "In his fight for freedom, equality, and constitutional rule in China,
   Liu Xiaobo embodied the human spirit that the Nobel Prize rewards. In
   his death, he has only reaffirmed the Nobel Committee's selection,"
   Tillerson added.

   Liu, a Chinese a literary critic-turned-dissident and pro-democracy
   advocate, died Thursday at age 61 following a high-profile battle with
   liver cancer.

   The leader of the Norwegian Nobel committee said Thursday the Chinese
   government bore a "heavy responsibility" for his death.

   "We find it deeply disturbing that Liu Xiaobo was not transferred to a
   facility where he could receive adequate medical treatment before he
   became terminally ill," said Berit Reiss-Anderssen. "The Chinese
   Government bears a heavy responsibility for his premature death," she
   said in an emailed statement.

   Rights groups were quick to praise his achievements and legacy while
   calling on the international community to investigate deaths in
   captivity and work to prevent them.

   "Even as Liu Xiaobo's illness worsened, the Chinese government
   continued to isolate him and his family, and denied him freely choosing
   his medical treatment," said Sophie Richardson, China director for
   Human Rights Watch. "The Chinese government's arrogance, cruelty, and
   callousness are shocking -- but Liu's struggle for a rights-respecting,
   democratic China will live on."

   The U.N. Human Rights Chief expressed "deep sorrow" over Liu's death,
   saying the human rights movement has lost a "principled champion".

   House minority leader Nancy Pelosi also expressed her condolences for
   Liu and disappointment with the Chinese government's handling of his
   illness.

   "The world grieves loss of one of the great moral voices of our time.
   We had hoped that the Chinese ... they mistreated him in prison,
   contributed to his illness, we would hope that they would allow him to
   leave the country to receive medical care," she said, "They did not. It
   is a sad day."