Liu Xiaobo, China’s best-known dissident and a Nobel peace laureate, has died of liver cancer aged 61, Chinese authorities said on Thursday, after eight and a half years in custody for his political writing.

The death of the Tiananmen Square veteran came days after Chinese president Xi Jinping was feted during visits to Russia and Germany and appeared at the G20 summit in Hamburg. While US and European officials had repeatedly urged China to let Liu seek treatment overseas, they did not press Mr Xi publicly on the issue.

Liu is the first Nobel Peace Prize winner to die in custody since Carl von Ossietzky, who was imprisoned by Nazi Germany. While Liu was transferred from prison to a hospital last month, he remained a prisoner of the state until the end. His hospital ward in the north-east city of Shenyang was tightly guarded by Chinese authorities, who turned away friends and reporters.