Didi Kirsten Tatlow of The New York Times catches up with Mo Shaoping, a Beijing lawyer who defended the brother of jailed Nobel laureate Liu Xiaobo’s wife in court on Tuesday:
Liu Xiaobo, the jailed Nobel Peace laureate serving an 11-year term for subversion after calling for an end to one-party rule and greater democracy in China, has recently been reading a popular nonfiction book about the history of Soviet Communism and Russian intellectuals in the 19th and 20th centuries, as well as Christian philosophical texts. He has also gained weight, said Mo Shaoping, a Beijing lawyer.
“He’s gotten fatter,” said Mr. Mo, citing Mr Liu’s wife, Liu Xia, who is allowed to visit her husband for about half an hour each month in jail in Jinzhou, in the northeastern province of Liaoning. “It’s visible,” he added.
Mr. Mo spoke by telephone one day after meeting with Liu Xia on Tuesday for the first time in nearly two years, he said. Mr. Mo, a high-profile lawyer who has taken on many politically sensitive cases, has known the Lius for years and was in court to defend Ms. Liu’s brother, Liu Hui, against business fraud charges. Mr. Mo says Liu Hui is innocent and entered a not guilty plea Tuesday on his client’s behalf.
Liu Xia was seen in public on Tuesday for the first time since being placed under house arrest in October 2010, when husband Liu Xiaobo won the Nobel Peace Prize.
