China bears responsibility for Liu Xiaobo’s death: Nobel committee

China’s most famous political prisoner, democracy icon Liu Xiaobo, died of cancer on Thursday.

The Chinese government bears a heavy responsibility for the death of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo, the leader of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, which awards the prize, said on Thursday.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee chairman Thorbjorn Jagland (L) puts the diploma on the empty chair where Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo should sit during the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony in Oslo, December 10, 2010. (Reuters File Photo)

“We find it deeply disturbing that Liu Xiaobo was not transferred to a facility where he could receive adequate medical treatment before he became terminally ill,” said Berit Reiss-Andersen.

“The Chinese Government bears a heavy responsibility for his premature death,” she told Reuters in an emailed statement.