Liu Xia misses memorial service for husband Liu Xiaobo in Berlin
Exiled Chinese dissidents and German human rights activists pack church for service to remember Nobel Peace Prize winner who died in custody last year
The public memorial service in Berlin to mark the first anniversary of the death of Liu Xiaobo, the Chinese Nobel Peace Prize winner who died in custody, was not attended by his widow Liu Xia.
Friends said she was unable to attend owing to fears for her health and concerns about her younger brother Liu Hui, who remains in China. She was said to have remembered her husband alone yesterday.
For hours on Friday evening, the quiet Gethsemane Church in Berlin became the focal point for an massive international media corps waiting for a sighting of Liu Xia, who was allowed to leave China earlier this year after eight years under de facto house arrest.
Hundreds of influential German figures including Nobel Literature laureate Herta Müller and former German president Joachim Gauck, members of the exiled Chinese dissident community and supporters of Liu Xia and her late husband packed the church – which once provided a refuge for East German dissidents – as the memorial service began at 6pm local time.
The service had been organised by German pastor Roland Kühne, long associated with human rights causes, and Tienchi Martin-Liao, president of the Independent Chinese PEN Centre.
