* Liu Xiaobo, 41, literary critic and a former professor at Beijing Normal University, was detained at his home in Beijing on October 7, 1996, and sentenced the next day to a three-year RTL term. Shortly after, Liu filed a lawsuit against the RTL Commission. His lawsuit was rejected in March by the Beijing's Xuanwu District Court. On September 30, 1996, Liu coauthored an open letter calling for a peaceful solution to the question of national reunification with Taiwan, talks with the Dalai Lama and freedom of speech. In July 1996 Liu wrote another open letter to the NPC calling for freedom of speech and the press. In 1995 he spent more than seven months in detention without charge following his involvement in the May 1995 petition campaign. Labeled a "black hand" behind the 1989 democracy movement, Liu spent 19 months in prison from 1989 to 1991 for "counterrevolutionary propaganda and incitement." (Sources: Human Rights in China - New York)