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China urged to free dissident Liu China rejects releasing dissident
(about 4 hours later)
The European Union and United States have called for the immediate release of Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo. China has rejected calls from the US and the EU to release a prominent dissident as "unacceptable".
After a year in detention, Mr Liu's lawyers say he has now been charged with subversion. Liu Xiaobo is facing trial for subversion after calling for political reform in China.
Large numbers of Chinese intellectuals who signed a petition calling for radical reform in China - Charter 08 - have expressed solidarity with Mr Liu. Both the European Union and the US urged China to release Mr Liu and end the harassment of other citizens who signed the pro-democracy Charter 08.
A founding signatory of the Charter, he faces an imminent trial and likely conviction. China's foreign ministry said the calls for his release were an attempt to interfere in China's internal affairs.
"The EU calls on the Chinese government to unconditionally release Liu Xiaobo and to end the harassment and detention," the 27-nation bloc's presidency said in a statement. After a year in detention, Mr Liu's lawyers said last week that prosecutors would try him on charges of inciting subversion of state power.
The US State Department said it had repeatedly raised Liu's case with Chinese officials. He was detained in December 2008 after co-writing Charter 08, a petition calling for radical political reform in China, including democratic change and respect for human rights.
"We urge the government of China to release Liu Xiaobo immediately and to respect the rights of all Chinese citizens who peacefully express their desire for internationally recognised freedoms," the US state department said in a statement. ANALYSIS Quentin Sommerville, BBC News, Beijing Despite the wishes of radicals like Liu Xiaobo, since Tiananmen there has not been much appetite here for democratic reform.
Critical essays People have grown richer, and are largely content under the Communist Party's rule.
In a statement posted on a website based outside China, news.boxun.com, a large number of signatories to Charter 08 said they were willing to be punished alongside Mr Lui. But ordinary people, hardly what you would call political radicals, have grown hungry for legal rights, and progress was made in creating an independent and professional judiciary. That has now stopped. class="" href="/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/8407238.stm">Read more
He faces 15 years in prison if convicted.
On Monday, both the US and the EU urged China to release Mr Liu and end the harassment and detention of citizens who call for political reforms.
"The accusations are unacceptable to China," foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu told journalists at a regular news briefing.
She said the rights of Chinese citizens were guaranteed by the law.
"I want to stress that Chinese judicial bodies handle cases independently. Outsiders have no right to interfere. We oppose any external forces using this case to meddle in China's internal affairs or judicial sovereignty."
More than 300 academics and intellectuals have signed Charter 08 and have expressed their solidarity with Mr Liu.
One of the signatories, Xu Youyu, told the BBC Chinese Service: "If Liu Xiaobo is guilty, then we all are."One of the signatories, Xu Youyu, told the BBC Chinese Service: "If Liu Xiaobo is guilty, then we all are."
Mr Xu said he was confident the authorities would not arrest hundreds of people.
Mr Liu's lawyer said last week prosecutors had decided to try his client on charges of "inciting subversion of state power" for publishing essays critical of the ruling Communist Party.
Mr Liu is a writer and former university professor who has spent much of his time since being a leader in the 1989 Tiananmen Square democracy protests either in prison or under various forms of house arrest or close monitoring.Mr Liu is a writer and former university professor who has spent much of his time since being a leader in the 1989 Tiananmen Square democracy protests either in prison or under various forms of house arrest or close monitoring.
He has continued to write and publish on the internet, calling for democratic pluralism in China.He has continued to write and publish on the internet, calling for democratic pluralism in China.