(Shenyang Municipal Information Office via AP, File) less

FILE - In this July 15, 2017, file photo provided by the Shenyang Municipal Information Office, Liu Xia, center, wife of jailed Nobel Peace Prize winner and Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo, holds a portrait of him ... more

BEIJING (AP) — The Latest on the release of the Chinese Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo's widow, Liu Xia, from house arrest (all times local):

Liu Xia, the widow of Chinese Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo has arrived in Germany following being freed from house arrest after eight years. More:Liu Xiaobo is first Nobel Peace Prize laureate to die in chains since Nazi era

Campaigners have called for Liu Xia's release ever since the 57-year-old poet and artist was put under house arrest in 2010, days after her imprisoned husband, Liu Xiaobo, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. A Foreign Ministry spokeswoman confirmed her departure - "for medical treatment, in accordance with her own will" - but said it had nothing to do with this week's visit to Germany by China's Premier Li Keqiang. China allowed the widow of Chinese Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo to be freed from house ... more

Liu Xia, the widow of Chinese Nobel dissident Liu Xiaobo, reacts as she arrives at the Helsinki International Airport in Vantaa, Finland, Tuesday, July 10, 2018. less

A woman plays smartphone next to a statue of the late Chinese Nobel Peace laureate Liu Xiaobo in Hong Kong, Tuesday, July 10, 2018. But he voiced concern for her brother Liu Hui who remains in China and said she "might not be able to speak much for fear of her brother's safety". Patrick Poon, a China researcher for Amnesty International, said Liu Xia is "a very important example of how international pressure still can work on human rights cases in China" at a time when many believe lobbying the country on such issues is futile. Image copyright Reuters Image caption A smiling Liu Xia is seen arriving in Helsinki en route to Berlin

The widow of Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo has left China for Germany after eight years in unofficial detention. The release of Liu Xia, who has never been charged with any crime, is the result of years of campaigning by Western governments and activists and comes just days before the one-year anniversary of the death of dissident Liu Xiaobo while he was serving a prison sentence for inciting subversion. It’s been almost a year since Nobel peace prize winner, writer, and human rights activist Liu Xiaobo passed away of liver cancer in custody in China, with Beijing rejecting pleas for the dissident to be allowed to travel abroad for treatment. China sentenced Liu Xiaobo in December 2009 to 11 years' imprisonment on charges of inciting subversion of state power after he helped write a manifesto calling for political and economic liberalization.
Liu Xia, widow of Nobel Peace Prize laureate and human rights activist Liu Xiaobo, is allowed to leave Beijing, China, for Berlin, Germany.