STOCKHOLM (AP) – Herta Mueller, the 2009 winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature, says the choice to give this year’s award to Mo Yan is a “catastrophe” that never should have happened and accuses the Chinese writer of praising the Asian country’s tough censorship laws.

In an interview published in Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter Saturday, the Romanian-born author – whose struggle under Nicolae Ceausescu’s dictatorship has influenced most of her works – said she wanted to cry when she learned of the 2012 laureate choice. She said she feels “it’s a catastrophe” and an “incredibly upsetting” choice.

Mo, the first Chinese writer to win the literature award, has been criticized for compromising his artistic and intellectual independence by being a Communist Party member and vice president of the official writers association.