Liu Xia’s friends ‘planning meeting’ with former German president Joachim Gauck about her brother’s case
They say they’re trying to arrange for her to meet the retired political heavyweight to see if he can help push for Liu Hui to be allowed to leave China
Friends of Liu Xia, widow of dissident and Nobel Peace laureate Liu Xiaobo, say they are making arrangements for her to meet a retired German political heavyweight to see whether he can assist in her brother’s case.
Liu Xia was freed from eight years under house arrest on Tuesday and allowed to leave China, but her brother Liu Hui was barred from joining her in Berlin.
One of her friends said they had approached Joachim Gauck, who was the German president from 2012 to 2017, to meet Liu Xia.
“Gauck is very respected in the German political circle and by the public. With his help, there may be more pressure within Germany to do more to help get Liu Hui out,” the family friend said.
Volker Stanzel, a former German ambassador to China, agreed with that approach, saying it would be appropriate for Liu Xia to play a part in lobbying German politicians to push for her brother to be allowed to leave China.