Beijing: Five years into his 11-year prison term, Chinese Nobel Peace laureate Liu Xiaobo plans to challenge his subversion conviction on grounds that he was legally exercising his right to free speech, his lawyer said Tuesday.
The complaint seeking a retrial would likely have slim chances for success. But lawyer Mo Shaoping said Liu's family no longer feels it has anything to lose by challenging the conviction and that his attorneys hope to test recent pledges by China's ruling Communist Party to make the country's judicial system more independent.
Liu was convicted and sentenced to jail in 2009 on a charge of subversion, after he authored and disseminated a document - Charter '08 - calling for democracy. He was awarded the peace prize in 2010 for two decades of nonviolent struggle for civil rights, in a decision that angered Beijing, which denounced the award.
Liu's conviction was upheld by an appeal court in Beijing, and his family members initially did not plan to challenge the verdict any further.
However, they renewed their resolve to fight the verdict after authorities earlier this year jailed his wife's brother on a fraud conviction in a case critics say was a political punishment for Liu's pro-democracy advocacy.
"They have nothing more to worry about," Mo said.
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