The jailed Chinese human rights activist and writer Liu Xiaobo has been awarded this year’s Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo today. Liu was sentenced to 11 years in prison last year after spearheading a petition calling for freedom of assembly, expression and religion in China. For the first time since the 1930s, a representative of the winner is not on hand to collect the award. Liu Xiaobo’s wife has been under house arrest since October, when the Nobel Prize was announced. Ahead of the ceremony, Nobel Committee Chairman Thorbjørn Jagland rejected China’s denunciation of the award.

Thorbjørn Jagland: “After this prize, the pressure from the outside world will be heavy. It will be quite difficult for many political leaders not to raise human rights issues in China when they meet with the Chinese leaders. And I think also that the prize and why the prize came will be spreading in the Chinese society.”

A number of countries boycotted the ceremony following protests from the Chinese government.