Liu Xiaobo, the Nobel Peace Prize winner released by Chinese authorities two weeks ago to receive treatment for terminal cancer, has died at age 61.
"According to his lawyer, Liu was diagnosed with late-stage liver cancer while in prison last month," NPR's Rob Schmitz reports from Hong Kong. He was being treated at a hospital in the northeastern city of Shenyang.
Liu was more than halfway through the 11-year sentence he received in 2009 for what the government called "incitement to subvert state power." His main infraction was helping to write a six-page manifesto titled Charter 08, which called for an end to one-party rule in China along with direct elections and the separation of powers. The document states, for instance, "Public institutions should be used for the public."