In memoriam: Liu Xiaobo

On July 13, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo, a political prisoner in China and a champion of democracy, died of liver cancer in a Chinese hospital. The world mourned, but in China his death was barely noted. The Chinese government is responsible for Liu Xiaobo’s death. It imprisoned him unjustly, then withheld proper medical treatment until his cancer was too advanced to treat. At the end it spurned international appeals to allow him to emigrate abroad with his wife so he could die a free man in a free country.

This final cruelty was undoubtedly approved by Chinese President Xi Ji...