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"Empty Chair" Underscores Washington, D.C. Demonstration in Support of Jailed Chinese Nobel Prize Winner
December 7, 2010
"EMPTY CHAIR" UNDERSCORES WASHINGTON, D.C. DEMONSTRATION IN
SUPPORT OF JAILED CHINESE NOBEL PRIZE WINNER
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT:
Ed Priola, Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation
202 627 9018
December 7, 2010
Washington, D.C. - Pro-democracy and human rights organizations
announced today that they will hold a demonstration on Friday,
December 10, 2010 from 11:00 AM to 12:00 PM in support of jailed
Chinese Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo at the Victims of
Communism Memorial on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.
(Massachusetts Avenue & N.J. Avenue, NE). Following the
demonstration, a luncheon panel discussion on the Future of
Democracy in China will convene at 12:30 at The Heritage
Foundation. (214 Massachusetts Ave. N.E.)
Speakers at the rally will include Annette Lantos, the wife of
former Congressman and human-rights champion Tom Lantos, Dr. Lee
Edwards, Chairman of the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation,
Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), Congressman Thaddeus McCotter
(R-MI), other Members of Congress and leaders of civil society
groups.
The rally is being organized by the Victims of Communism Memorial
Foundation and Initiatives for China, two organizations that are
calling upon the Chinese government to release Liu, a prominent
Chinese scholar and human rights advocate who is serving an 11-year
prison term for his role in drafting and circulating Charter '08,
an online petition advocating for human rights and democracy in the
Chinese political system.
Organizers announced that an "empty chair" will be displayed during
the Capitol Hill demonstration to symbolize the absence of Liu from
the Nobel Prize award ceremony taking place on the same day in
Oslo, Norway. Prominent Chinese dissident Dr. Yang Jianli, a close
friend of Liu who is serving as Liu's liaison to the Norwegian
Nobel Prize Committee, is organizing an "empty chair" display
during the Nobel awards ceremony in Oslo.
In an open letter to the Washington Post on Saturday, Yang,
President of Initiatives for China, called upon Chinese President
Hu Jintao to permit Liu's wife, Liu Xia, to travel to Oslo and
accept the Nobel Peace Prize on Liu's behalf. She is currently
being held under house arrest.
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