Chinese authorities released free speech activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo on Monday after he was diagnosed with late-stage terminal liver cancer.
Liu is being treated in a hospital in Shenyang, near the prison where he was being held for "inciting subversion of state power." According to Reporters Without Borders (RSF), Liu was only released because it had become clear he will die soon.
"We are relieved to learn of Liu Xiaobo's release but it is regrettable that it was only after such a grave diagnosis that he was able to leave prison," RSF secretary-general Christophe Deloire said. "Everything must now be done to ensure that Liu, who embodies resistance to oppression and the fight for free speech in China, can be treated properly and leave the country if he so wishes."
Liu was a prominent figure in the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests because he went on a hunger strike for pro-democracy causes. He also taught at Columbia University and Beijing Normal University. He was arrested in 2009 for posting the "Charter 08" manifesto online, which called for a respect for human rights and an end to one-party rule in China.
In 2010, Liu became the first Chinese citizen to receive the Nobel Peace Prize and the only detained Nobel peace laureate. The prize was symbolically awarded to an empty chair, as Liu was unable to travel to Stockholm and collect it.
Human rights advocates and fellow Tiananmen Square protest participants Wu'er Kaixi and Wang Dan issued a statement saying the Chinese government is at fault for Liu's condition.
"We believe that Liu Xiaobo's physical and mental suffering in China's prison system is the fundamental cause of the deterioration of his health, and we take this opportunity to express our reaffirmation of the fact that the Chinese government deliberately sentenced him to death over the past nine years of the sentence he has served due simply to his outspoken thinking," they said.
Liu's wife, Liu Xia, is still being held under house arrest, despite never being tried for any crime in court. RSF has also called for her immediate release.