Liu Xiaobo died on Thursday after a battle with cancer, remaining in custody until the end as officials ignored international pleas to let him spend his final days free and abroad.
The prominent democracy advocate died aged 61, more than a month after he was transferred from prison to a heavily-guarded hospital to be treated for late-stage liver cancer.
Liu’s death puts China in dubious company as he became the first Nobel Peace Prize laureate to die in custody since German pacifist Carl von Ossietzky, who passed away in a hospital while held by the Nazis in 1938.
International tributes poured in for a “hero” of democracy while human rights groups accused the government of “cruelty”. “The Chinese government bears a heavy responsibility for his premature death,” the Nobel committee said in a statement.
