Sentenced to 11 years in prison, the dissident saw his wife, Liu Xia. After her visit, she was placed under house arrest with the authorities preventing an EU delegation from visiting her. The Dalai Lama slams Beijing for being stuck in an "old way of thinking".

Beijing (AsiaNews) – The Nobel Peace Prize for 2010 is for the victims of pro-democracy protests in Tiananmen Square, “the lost souls of June 4th,” Liu Xiaobo told his wife who saw him in prison. Sentenced to 11 years in prison for writing and promoting Charter 08, the university scholar who won the award wants China’s current rulers to install a democratic government in the country.

When his wife Xia told him the news, he was moved to tears during the meeting lasted about an hour, Human Rights in China (HRIC) reported. The pro-democracy activist stressed the spirit of non-violence of the victims of Tiananmen who gave their lives for peace, freedom, and democracy.

After her return home, Liu’s wife was placed under house arrest. According to the US-based HRIC, “state security officers are not allowing Liu Xia to contact the media and her friends, and she has been told that if she wants to leave her home, she must be escorted in a police car.”

“Liu Xia is currently under some sort of de facto house arrest,” said Beth Schwanke, a lawyer with the US-based human rights group Freedom Now.

Under Chinese law, a full investigation by a prosecutor is not needed to arrest or put someone under house arrest. Any risk to “public order” is enough.

Schwanke said that after it was announced on Friday that her husband had been awarded the Nobel Prize, Liu's phone was taken away and she was informed that she was detained.

Convicted on subversion charges, Liu Xiaobo’s sentence was not officially announced until today. In the meantime, major human rights groups and Western governments have come out in favour of his release

Like various European ministers, and US President Obama, the Dalai Lama criticised Beijing’s reaction to the Nobel Prize going to Liu Xiaobo. In his view, the Chinese government does "not appreciate different opinions at all". For the Tibetan religious leader, building an open, transparent society is "the only way to save all the people of China"; sadly, some "hardliners" inside the leadership were stuck in an "old way of thinking.”

The European Union has also expressed its support for the Chinese dissident; however, European diplomats were not allowed to visit the Nobel laureate’s wife, Simon Sharpe, first EU secretary for political affairs in China, said. The EU diplomat wanted to see Liu Xia at her home in Beijing to deliver personally a letter of congratulations on the peace award from the president of the European Commission, José Barroso. He was accompanied by diplomats from about ten embassies, including Italy, Switzerland, Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Belgium and Australia.

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