[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 56 (Thursday, April 2, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E860]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            FREE LIU XIAOBO

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. FRANK R. WOLF

                              of virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, April 2, 2009

  Mr. WOLF. Madam Speaker, I would like to call the attention of my 
colleagues to the following letter written by Liu Xia, the wife of 
imprisoned Chinese human rights activist Liu Xiaobo. Liu Xiaobo is the 
leader of the Charter '08 movement which calls on the Chinese 
government to implement democratic reforms. His courageous leadership 
caused the Chinese security forces to take Mr. Liu from his home in 
Beijing on December 8, 2008. I call on my colleagues in the Congress 
and the Administration to advocate for the immediate and unconditional 
release of Liu Xiaobo.
                                                    April 1, 2009.
     Hon. Frank Wolf,
     House of Representatives,
     Washington, DC.
       Dear Congressman Wolf, Please forgive me for writing to you 
     directly, but it is only out of the most desperate of 
     circumstances that I do so.
       As you may already know, my husband, Liu Xiaobo, was taken 
     from our home by Chinese police on December 8th, 2008 after 
     he and more than three hundred other Chinese citizens signed 
     Charter 08, a manifesto modeled after the Czechoslovakian 
     Charter 77 that appeals for comprehensive democracy and human 
     rights in China. Xiaobo is a writer who cares for nothing 
     more than his duty as an intellectual to speak out for the 
     disadvantaged in society. Now, however, he cannot even 
     protect his own rights.
       One hundred fourteen days have now passed since my 
     husband's disappearance. On two occasions (01/01/2009 and 03/
     20/2009) police took me to an undisclosed location where I 
     was permitted to meet with him and share a meal together. 
     During our conversations, which were closely monitored, my 
     husband told me that he has been kept in solitary confinement 
     in a closed room measuring approximately ten square meters in 
     size. A single light bulb is his only source of light. And of 
     the more than 60 books I had brought him, he received only a 
     few, the rest having been confiscated by the prison 
     officials.
       In the three to four months that have passed since his 
     abduction (I can find no other suitable words to describe his 
     situation, as no arrest warrant or other official documents 
     were presented to justify his detention), nearly all of the 
     other 300 signatories have been summoned and investigated by 
     the police. It is obvious to me that the authorities are 
     attempting to gather evidence of my husband's ``crime,'' 
     which will most likely be designated as ``inciting the 
     subversion of state power.'' I fear that the government wants 
     to carry out a sham trial and hand down a severe sentence to 
     my husband.
       This is the fourth time that my husband has been dragged 
     away from our home in front of my eyes. When my husband was 
     released from prison in 1990, after serving half a year in 
     prison for his participation in the 1989, pro-democracy 
     demonstrations at Tiananmen Square, he apologized to me 
     because he had decided during that time that he never wants 
     to have children. As he explained, ``I want to continue 
     working as a writer. You may lose me again, but I do not want 
     see a child lose its father.'' Nor do I. His words came true 
     in 1996 when he disappeared behind bars for three more years, 
     owing to writings of his that promoted freedom and democracy. 
     Now, I am alone once again. I continue writing letters to 
     him, knowing that he will never receive them, just as the 
     letters he has sent me in the past hundred or so days have 
     never reached my hands.
       I plead with you to help my husband in regaining his 
     freedom. He has done nothing but to give voice to the 
     thoughts and wishes that are shared by many in my country. I 
     will be forever in your debt if you can provide him with any 
     assistance.
           Sincerely yours,
     Liu Xia.

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