Chinese Nobel Peace laureate Liu Xiaobo has died, the government of the northeastern Chinese city of Shenyang, where he was being treated for late-stage liver cancer, said on Thursday.

The Shenyang legal bureau said in a brief statement on its website that Liu had suffered multiple organ failure and efforts to save him had failed.

Liu, 61, was jailed for 11 years in 2009 for “inciting subversion of state power” after he helped write a petition known as “Charter 08” calling for sweeping political reforms.

He was repeatedly jailed throughout his life, and had also been subject to heavy restrictions when he was free, while his wife, Liu Xia, was placed under house arrest.

He was recently moved from jail to a hospital in China’s northeastern city of Shenyang to be treated for his liver cancer.

As soon as news of his death broke, tributes flowed for him on Twitter

.