Liu Xiaobo, who won the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize from behind bars, was for decades a vocal champion of democracy and human rights until Chinese authorities locked him up for speaking out. To Beijing's fury, he was awarded the Nobel prize a year later -- and was represented by an empty chair at the ceremony in Oslo. Liu was arrested in late 2008 after co-authoring Charter 08, a widely circulated petition that called for political reform in the Communist-ruled nation.
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