News at Eleven: As he [Liu Xiaobo] was serving an 11-year

sentence in a Chinese prison he was unable to accept his award in person, and his absence was marked by an empty chair at the ceremony. The Chinese authorities immediately banned the phrase "empty chair" from the internet. When he was told about the prize, Liu wept and said "this is for those souls of the dead", a reference to the hundreds of students massacred at Tiananmen Square.

from The Guardian: No Enemies, No Hatred: Selected Essays and Poems--review

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