Chinese Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo's lawyer to sue China

Chinese Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo's lawyer to sue China

2010-11-10 00:45:18 GMT+7 (ICT)

BEIJING, CHINA (BNO NEWS) -- Chinese jailed Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo's lawyer on Tuesday said he is planning on filing a lawsuit against Chinese authorities for not allowing him to leave the country.

Mo Shaoping told the BBC that the Chinese authorities acted unlawfully by not allowing him to attend a lawyers' conference in London because it could "threaten state security."

According to Shaoping, authorities might have suspected he was planning to receive the Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of Xiaobo.

As Shaoping was getting ready to board his flight at Beijing's international airport, immigration officers stopped him and informed him that he was not allowed to leave the country.

"I asked for a written notice, but the policeman said they didn't have anything on paper, but had orders from the Beijing Public Security Bureau that we could not leave China," Shaoping explained.

"We will follow the judicial procedure in China and file a lawsuit against them... that reason doesn't hold water. It's against the law," he added.

Dissident Xiaobo was awarded the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize in October for his "long and non-violent struggle for fundamental human rights in China."

Xiaobo was sentenced to eleven years in prison on December 23, 2009. His political rights were also taken away by a Beijing Intermediate Court for a duration of two years after his release.

Despite international leaders and groups around the world applauding the naming of Xiaobo as the prize winner, China strongly criticized the announcement, describing Xiaobo as a "criminal."

The Chinese government said Xiaobo was jailed for "inciting subversion" as he has been a leader of protests and was involved in drafting a document which called for multi-party democracy and respect for human rights in the Asian country.

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