Take criticism as positive Nobel chair tells China

For the first time since the Nazis prevented a Nobel Peace prize handover, the most prestigious of all international awards had to be deposited on an empty chair in Oslo’s City Hall.

Neither Liu Xiaobo nor any family members were allowed to travel to Norway to pick up the prize, and Beijing managed to strong-arm 17 countries into boycotting the ceremony.

CNN and the BBC were blacked out in China, so the Chinese were unable to hear an address written by Liu.

“I hope that I will be the last victim of China’s endless literary inquisitions and that from now on no-one will be incriminated because of speech. Freedom of expression is the foundation of human rights, the source of humanity, and the mother of truth,” read the actress Liv Ullman.

The Nobel Committee chairman said China’s position in the world “entails increased responsibility, and China must be prepared for criticism and regard it as positive.”

However television pictures did get through in Hong Kong, where several hundred people gathered to watch the ceremony on a big screen.

At the same time police totally sealed off all access to Liu’s house in Beijing, and cut his telephone and internet.

Copyright © 2012 euronews