OSLO, Norway • Imprisoned in China and with close family members forbidden to leave the country, the Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday, an empty chair representing his absence at the ceremony in Oslo.
For the first time in 75 years, no representative of the winner was allowed to make the trip to receive the peace medal, a diploma and the $1.5 million check that comes with it.
The last time that happened was in 1935, when German dictator Adolf Hitler prevented that year's winner, Count Carl von Ossietzky, who was imprisoned in a concentration camp, and indeed anyone from Germany from attending the ceremony.
Noting Liu's absence, the chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, Thorbjorn Jagland, said to a standing ovation, "This fact alone shows that the award was necessary and appropriate."