Liu Xiaobo

As the 2nd anniversary of the Nobel Peace Prize for Liu Xiaobo (刘晓波) approaches, Human Rights in China (HRIC) calls on the Chinese authorities to release him immediately and unconditionally. Liu, independent intellectual, long-time human rights and democracy advocate, and a drafter of Charter 08—an online petition calling for political reform and a seminal document of China’s democracy activism—is in the fourth year of his 11-year prison term for “inciting subversion of state power.”

This signature campaign (Chinese Original) to appeal for the immediate and unconditional release of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo and his wife Liu Xia begins circulating as the second anniversary of the Prize approaches. Liu is serving the fourth year of his 11-year prison term and is the only Nobel Peace Prize laureate in prison. His wife, Liu Xia, has been under unlawful to house arrest for more than two years, with two female police officers monitoring her around-the-clock.

Since the Beijing Municipal No. 1 Intermediate People’s Court issued a guilty verdict and 11-year sentence to Liu Xiaobo (刘晓波) for the crime of “inciting subversion of state power” on December 25, 2009, the international community has condemned the decision and its negative impact on the universal right of freedom of expression.

In the month since Charter 08 was first issued on December 9, 2008, the Chinese authorities, in addition to detaining one of its signers, independent intellectual Liu Xiaobo (刘晓波), have mobilized police forces across the country to summon, threaten, harass and monitor other signers. The signers include not only well-known scholars, writers, professors, lawyers and dissidents, but also peasants, workers, evictees, and petitioners.