The Guardian has a lengthy interview with Liu Xia, the wife of imprisoned writer Liu Xiaobo:
“I’m not so interested in politics and I don’t have much hope of changing society… I seldom read what he writes,” says his wife. “But when you live with such a person, even if you don’t care about politics, politics will care about you.”
Her husband, now 54, has struggled with that knowledge. “My love for you is full of guilt and regret, sometimes heavy enough to hobble my steps,” he wrote in his court statement.
…She is allowed to send books and money to her husband, but he has received only about 10 of more than 100 titles she has chosen. They include four by Kafka. Did she see parallels between the Czech writer’s work and their lives?
“Sometimes we feel that he is exactly writing about us,” she says drily.
…When she does leave the compound, a car is waiting, “not to interfere; just to follow me”. How does it feel to live under watch? She pauses. “I feel it’s ridiculous. It’s even more strict than when Xiaobo was at home. When he was here the police would come on certain occasions; now they’re here every day.”
It’s hard to judge their logic, she says; in recent years she’s been a homebody. She doesn’t use a computer and barely uses the phone. She sees only three or four close friends. “Why bother to use so much taxpayers’ money watching someone like me?” she asks.
Read more about Liu Xiaobo via CDT.
