Washington – After years of extraordinary suffering, Liu Xia, the widow of Chinese Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Liu Xiaobo, is finally free. She departed Beijing overnight and is traveling to Berlin via Helsinki.
Jared Genser, her pro bono counsel issued the following statement: “I am relieved and very grateful to Chancellor Merkel, President Trump, and so many others in the international community who helped make today possible. Liu Xia was never a political person and yet for almost eight years enormous misery was heaped upon her by Chinese authorities for the crime of merely having married her husband. While Liu Xia is free, our work is not complete. Her brother, Liu Hui, remains in China. Until he is able to leave China to be reunited with his sister, Liu Xia will remain a hostage of the Chinese government.”
The Chinese government’s abuse of Liu Xia has been repeatedly condemned by numerous prominent individuals and organizations. For example, in early 2011, the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention found that Liu Xia was detained arbitrarily by the Government of China and should be immediately released from house arrest. On June 29, 2017, a letter signed by 154 Nobel Laureates was sent to Chinese President Xi Jinping calling for the release of Liu Xia and her husband. On August 2, 2017, a complaint was filed on Liu Xia’s behalf to the UN Working Group on Enforced and Involuntary Disappearances, denouncing the multiple violations of international law in her case.
Most recently, on July 4, 2018, UN human rights experts, including the Chair-Rapporteurs of the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances and the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, and the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders published a statement reiterating their call to the Government of China to immediately release Liu Xia.
Jared Genser has served as pro bono counsel to Liu Xiaobo and Liu Xia since being hired by Liu Xia in mid-2010 to help secure the release of her husband from prison.
Contact:
Jared Genser
International Counsel to Liu Xia and Liu Xiaobo
jgenser@perseus-strategies.com
+1 (202) 320-4135
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