China upholds 11-year sentence against brother-in-law of pro-democracy Nobel Peace Prize winner

BEIJING – A Chinese court has upheld the 11-year prison sentence handed down to the brother-in-law of jailed Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo.

Relatives have denounced Liu Hui’s conviction for fraud in a real estate dispute as political payback for Liu Xiaobo’s pro-democracy advocacy. Liu Xiaobo was imprisoned for subversion in 2009.

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However, lawyer Shang Baojun said the court in suburban Beijing’s Huairou district turned down Liu Hui’s appeal on Friday.

Liu Hui’s sister, Liu Xia, has been under house arrest since her husband was awarded the Nobel prize in 2010. Shang said that Liu Xia, who has stridently protested her extra-legal detention, did not attend Friday’s hearing because she wasn’t feeling well.

Liu Xiaobo’s Nobel prize infuriated China’s communist leaders, who adamantly reject his calls for multiparty Western-style democracy.