Czech lawmakers nominate Chinese dissident for Nobel prize

A group of 40 Czech legislators have called for the Nobel Peace Prize to be presented to Chinese dissident and human rights activist Liu Xiaobo. Mr Liu is currently serving an 11-year jail term for “subversion”. A statement nominating him for the award was signed by representatives of all the parties in the Czech Parliament except the Communists. Senator Alexandr Vondra, himself a former dissident, organised the petition. He said he had asked selected lawmakers to sign on the basis of their own involvement in human rights issues in the past. Liu Xiaobo is one of the founders of Charter 08, a Chinese human rights initiative directly inspired by Czechoslovakia’s Charter 77.