How China made Liu Xiaobo’s wife suffer too
Liu Xia was diagnosed with depression after years of house arrest and needs medication to sleep
Liu Xia, widow of 2010 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo, spent almost seven years living under house arrest as her husband, serving an 11-year sentence for subversion of the state, languished in Liaoning’s Jinzhou Prison.
Following the dissident’s death from liver cancer on Thursday night, friends say they do not expect the authorities to loosen their grip on the 56-year-old painter, poet and photographer due to their overriding social stability concerns.
She was diagnosed with depression in 2014 after years of house arrest and the jailing of her brother, Liu Hui, on fraud charges in 2013.
“The extensive house arrest has basically wrecked her, even though she was allowed limited access to friends recently,” friend and activist Mo Zhixu said.
Liu Xia has been under house arrest since October 2010. Her phone and internet lines were cut to prevent her from becoming a rallying point for other activists. She’s been barred from taking her daily walk outside for fear she might be approached by activists or journalists, and was only allowed out to visit her husband and parents and for escorted trips to buy groceries.
Mo said the deaths of her father last year and mother this February had added to the mountain of grief Liu Xia was carrying.