A Chinese appeals court Feb. 11 upheld the 11-year prison sentence for democracy activist Liu Xiaobo, despite calls for his release from US and European Union officials. Yje organization Human Rights in China reports that in his appeal, Liu's lawyers argued that he was innocent, claiming:

1) The existing evidence does not prove Liu Xiaobo's subjective intent to incite subversion of state power;
2) The charges of inciting subversion of state power against Liu Xiaobo in the indictment are based upon [writings] quoted out of context;
3) The charges in the indictment blur the line between a citizen's free speech and criminal offenses; and
4) There have been major flaws during the investigation, the procuratorate's examination before prosecution, and the trial of this case.

(Jurist, Feb. 11)

Chinese human rights activist Liu Xiaobo was announced Oct. 8 as the winner of the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize, "for his long and non-violent struggle for fundamental human rights in China." Liu has been one of China's most prominent dissidents. He spent two years in prison following the Tiananmen Square uprising, has long challenged China's one-party rule and co-authored Charter 08, a petition calling for political reforms in the country. He is currently serving an 11-year prison sentence in China for inciting subversion. US President Barack Obama, last year's award recipient, praised the Nobel Committee's decision and called on China to release Liu:

By granting the prize to Mr. Liu, the Nobel Committee has chosen someone who has been an eloquent and courageous spokesman for the advance of universal values through peaceful and non-violent means, including his support for democracy, human rights, and the rule of law... We call on the Chinese government to release Mr. Liu as soon as possible.

Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Jiang Yu denounced the decision, calling it "contrary to the purpose of the Nobel Prize." Chinese authorities have censored the announcement, blocking internet searches and international broadcasts about it and even turning off phones of people who text-messaged the news. (Jurist, Oct. 8)

Several governments heeded China's call for a boycott of the Oslo ceremony at which Liu Xiabo was awarded the Peace Prize in absentia, but Venezuela's Hugo Chávez spoke aggressively in Beijing's defense, saying it acted to protect its "sovereignty"—and calling Liu a "counter-revolutionary." (CNN, Oct. 10)

Chávez's glib betrayal of freedom of dissent is appalling, and certainly China has been run by "counter-revolutionaries" since the Revisionist Coup of 1976. But Beijing apologists in the left-wing blogosphere point out that Liu's Charter 08 does call for abandoning the last remnants of socialism. Even the Beijing-critical China Worker notes that Charter 08 "calls for human rights and democracy, but also a market economy and privatisation in China." One lefty blog quotes from a reprint of the Charter in the New York Review of Books:

Protection of Private Property. We should establish and protect the right to private property and promote an economic system of free and fair markets. We should do away with government monopolies in commerce and industry and guarantee the freedom to start new enterprises. We should establish a Committee on State-Owned Property, reporting to the national legislature, that will monitor the transfer of state-owned enterprises to private ownership in a fair, competitive, and orderly manner. We should institute a land reform that promotes private ownership of land, guarantees the right to buy and sell land, and allows the true value of private property to be adequately reflected in the market.

Can we demand freedom for Liu Xiabo while still offering a critique of his ideas? Can we dissent from his ideas while not betraying his right to express them?

I know, "naive liberal"... Go ahead...