China's Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo dies in custody aged 61
The Chinese human rights activist was recently moved from jail to hospital, where he was being treated for liver cancer.
Friday 14 July 2017 00:51, UK
Chinese Nobel Peace laureate Liu Xiaobo has died aged 61.
The human rights activist, who had been serving an 11-year jail sentence for "inciting subversion of state power", had been transferred to hospital in the northeastern city of Shenyang and was being treated for advanced liver cancer.
The Shenyang legal bureau confirmed his death and said he had suffered multiple organ failure.
The Chinese government had previously denied Mr Liu the request to be transferred to the US or Germany for treatment, despite protests from campaigners.
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Chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, Berit Reiss-Andersen, said in a statement: "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.
"The Chinese government bears a heavy responsibility for his premature death."
Ms Reiss-Andersen also paid tribute, saying: "Liu Xiaobo received the Nobel Peace Prize for 2010 for his efforts to implement the fundamental human rights secured in international instruments as well as in the constitution of the People's Republic of China.
"He was a leading figure in the Chinese democracy movement for almost 30 years."
The UN's chief commissioner for human rights Zeid Ra'ad al Hussein said: "The human rights movement in China and across the world has lost a principled champion who devoted his life to defending and promoting human rights, peacefully and consistently, and who was jailed for standing up for his beliefs."