Nobel widow Liu Xia leaves China after 8 years' house arrest

China allowed the widow of Chinese Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo to be freed from house arrest and leave for Berlin today, her relatives and close friends said, ending an eight-year ordeal that drove the poet into depression and drew intense criticism of Beijing's human rights record.

The release of Liu Xia, who has never been charged with any crime, is the result of years of campaigning by Western governments and activists and comes just days before the one-year anniversary of the death of dissident Liu Xiaobo while he was serving a prison sentence for inciting subversion.

Liu Xia's brother, Liu Hui, wrote on a social media site: "Sister has already left Beijing for Europe at noon to start her new life. Thanks to everyone who has helped and cared for her these few years. I hope from now on her life is peaceful and happy."
Wu said he spoke to Liu Xia's older brother, Liu Tong. "Liu Xia has been kept isolated for so many years," said Wu by phone from the southern city of Guangzhou. "I hope that being in a free country will allow Liu Xia to heal her longstanding traumas and wounds."
"This is fantastic news, something we have all been hoping against hope for a long time," said Hu Jia, a family friend and Beijing-based activist. "But we still fear for Liu Hui, who is being kept in the country as a guarantee so that Liu Xia does not speak out abroad."
"Xiaobo is gone, and there's nothing in the world for me now," Liu said tearfully. "It's easier to die than live. Using death to defy could not be any simpler for me."