AP Exclusive: Detained China Nobel wife speaks out

(AP) The wife of imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo says in a surprise interview that she never expected her house arrest to drag on for two years and that the experience is exacting an emotional toll on her.

In her first interview in 26 months, Liu Xia told The Associated Press on Thursday that her house arrest is absurd. She says she is escorted to visit her husband in prison almost every month and to go shopping once a week. Other than that she is confined to the fifth floor Beijing apartment.

The authoritarian government's detention of the Lius underscore its determination to keep 2010 peace prize winner, and his advocacy of a peaceful transition to democracy, from becoming an inspiration to other Chinese.