Beijing dismisses calls for Liu Xiaobo release

December 06, 2012: The Chinese government has dismissed a letter signed by 134 Nobel laureates calling for the release of 2010 Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo.

“China is firmly opposed to the outside world interfering in China's judicial sovereignty and internal affairs in any form,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hong Lei told a press briefing on Wednesday.

“Liu Xiaobo was sentenced to imprisonment by China's judicial authorities for violating the law," he said. Liu was jailed in for 11 years in 2009 for alleged subversion. The Nobel laureates along with hundreds of Chinese activists had called on Communist Party secretary-general Xi Jinping in two separate letters to free Liu.

Both letters were made public on Tuesday ahead of Human Rights Day which falls on Sunday and just before Chinese writer Mo Yan (PICTURED) receives his Nobel Prize for literature.. In their letter, the 134 laureates had also called for the release of Liu’s wife, Liu Xia, who is under house arrest.