Hong Kong legislators on Wednesday voted down a motion calling for the release of prominent jailed Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo, an official said.
Pro-Beijing legislators, who effectively control the city's 60-member Legislative Council, quashed the motion put forward by pro-democracy politicians, said democratic lawmaker Albert Ho.
"It was expected," he said.
"The motion was bound to be blocked by the other side."
Before the vote, democratic lawmakers wore masks with pictures of Liu, who was last month sentenced to 11 years in prison in China on subversion charges.
His trial and subsequent jailing were condemned by the United States, the European Union and other Western governments.
On Tuesday, about 100 people held a candlelight vigil for Liu outside Hong Kong's legislative building.
Thousands of people took to the streets on New Year's Day to call for universal suffrage and Liu's release, sparking criticism from Beijing's top official in Hong Kong.
The former British colony was handed back to China in 1997 but maintains a separate legal and political system from the mainland.
Share This Article With Planet Earth
