TO OBTAIN OPINIONS THAT HIS IMPRISONMENT AND WIFE’S HOUSE ARREST ARE IN VIOLATION OF INTERNATIONAL LAW
Washington, DC: Today, Liu Xiaobo’s pro bono international legal team filed an urgent action petition with the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention on behalf of the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate. The team also filed an urgent action petition on behalf of Liu Xia, Liu Xiaobo’s wife, who was placed under an illegal house arrest following the announcement of the Nobel Peace Prize. The team hopes to obtain opinions from the Working Group that the Chinese government’s detentions of Liu Xiaobo and Liu Xia are in violation of international law.
“The Chinese government’s imprisonment of Liu Xiaobo violates the Chinese Constitution and international law; and the ongoing house arrest of Liu Xia shocks the conscience,” said Freedom Now’s Executive Director Maran Turner. “We urge the Chinese government to immediately release both Liu Xiaobo and Liu Xia from their illegal and unjust detentions.”
The petitions to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention are submitted in the wake of a letter from 15 Nobel Peace Prize Laureates to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and leaders of the G-20 countries to urge them to ask Chinese President Hu Jintao at the G-20 Summit on November 11-12, 2010, to release Liu Xiaobo and Liu Xia.
Liu Xiaobo received the Nobel Peace Prize for his “long and non-violent struggle for fundamental human rights in China.” He is currently serving an 11-year prison sentence for “inciting subversion to state power.” His wife, Liu Xia, has been detained without charge in her Beijing apartment since the announcement of the Nobel Prize. It is unlikely either will be able to attend the December 10, 2010, Nobel Peace Prize award ceremony in Oslo.
Freedom Now represents Liu Xiaobo with a team of international human rights specialists, including NYU Law Professor and Adjunct Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations Jerome A. Cohen, Canadian Member of Parliament and former Minister of Justice and Attorney General Irwin Cotler, Former Canadian Member of Parliament and Secretary of State, Asia Pacific David Kilgour, and former Freedom Now client and Founder and President of Initiatives for China Dr. Yang Jianli. Freedom Now was retained by Liu Xia to represent Liu Xiaobo as his international pro bono legal counsel.