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Chinese Nobel Prize winner paroled for cancer treatment

By Ed Adamczyk
U.S. Rep. Christopher Smith, R-N.J., spoke at a Washington pro-democracy rally honoring Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Liu Xiaobo, depicted in the portrait. Liu, who is battling terminal liver cancer, was given medical parole from a Chinese prison Monday, his lawyer said. File Photo by Kevin Dietsch/UPI
U.S. Rep. Christopher Smith, R-N.J., spoke at a Washington pro-democracy rally honoring Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Liu Xiaobo, depicted in the portrait. Liu, who is battling terminal liver cancer, was given medical parole from a Chinese prison Monday, his lawyer said. File Photo by Kevin Dietsch/UPI | License Photo

June 26 (UPI) -- Imprisoned Chinese dissident and Nobel Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo was granted parole after a cancer diagnosis, his lawyer said Monday.

Liu, 61, was moved from a prison in northeast China to a cancer treatment center in Shenyang, Liaonong province. He was diagnosed with terminal liver cancer on May 23 and given medical parole, Mo Shaoping, his lawyer, said.

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Mo said Liu requested to be treated outside of prison, and that the request was approved.

Liu was a lecturer at Beijing State University and a prominent figure in student free speech protests of Beijing and other Chinese cities in 1989. He was noted for his impassioned pro-democracy speeches, and started a hunger strike prior to the Chinese military involvement in crushing the movement at Tiananmen Square. During that incident, he negotiated a peaceful retreat from the public square and is credited with saving many lives, The New York Times reported.

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His involvement in the uprising brought him a 21-month jail term. In 2008, he helped compose a petition, called "Charter 08" and later signed by hundreds of scholars and activists. It called for Chinese political liberalization, and brought Liu a 15-year prison sentence for "inciting subversion of state power."

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He was awarded the 2010 Nobel Prize for Peace, for what the Nobel committee termed "his long and non-violent struggle for fundamental human rights in China." He was not present to receive the award in Oslo and was represented by an empty chair.

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