China rejects EU demand for Nobel laureate's release

China strongly opposed a resolution passed by the European Parliament urging Beijing to release from house arrest Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo, who is suffering from terminal-stage liver cancer, the Foreign Ministry said Friday.

Beijing urged the international community to respect China's sovereignty and to refrain from interfering in its internal affairs, ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang said during a press briefing here.

"China is a rule of law country, everybody is equal in front of the law," Efe news quoted Geng as saying.

The European Parliament had also demanded the release of Liu's wife Liu Xia, and urged that the 61-year-old dissident -- in jail since 2009 after helping to draft "Charter 08", a political manifesto calling for democratic reforms in China -- should be allowed to travel to a country of his choice for treatment.

The hospital where Liu is being treated said on Friday his doctors have halted his treatment after the condition of his liver deteriorated over the past few days.

--IANS

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