Liu Xia makes public appearance at brother's trial
Staff Reporter 2013-04-23 17:12
Liu Xia was placed under house arrest after her husband Liu Xiaobo won the Nobel peace prize. (Internet photo)
Liu Xia, the wife of jailed democracy activist Liu Xiaobo, has made a public appearance for the first time in two years when was permitted to attend the trial of her brother Lu Hui, who has been charged with fraud.
Liu said her appearance at the trial does not mean she has been released from the unofficial house arrest in Beijing which began around the time her husband won the Nobel peace prize in 2010, having been sentenced to 11 years in prison for co-drafting a paper calling for multiparty democracy in China. She has endured great mental and physical stress during her isolation but is still permitted to visit her husband once every month. Liu Xiaobo is fine, she reported.
Her 43-year-old brother and his business partners were charged for extorting 3 million yuan (US$485,000) in 2010. Liu Hui was taken into custody by Beijing police in March last year but released on bail in September. He was re-arrested and charged with the same offense in January this year. Liu Hui's lawyer said he has a very slim chance of acquittal and may face a sentence of up to ten years in prison, according to the BBC.
Liu Hui's trial was held at a courthouse under heavy guard in Beijing's Huairou district on Tuesday morning. Foreign ambassadors from the EU, Britain, the United States and Canada went to the courthouse but were told there were not enough seats for them to sit in on the trial.
