Germany: The People of Düsseldorf Condemn the Crime of Organ Harvesting from Living Falun Gong Practitioners

On October 27th, 2007, a large scale activity marking the “World Human Rights Torch Week” was held in Düsseldorf, as similar activities were held concurrently in other major cities in Germany. These activities were to get the message across to German people that “the crimes of genocide cannot coexist with the Olympic Games in China.” The objective of the activity was to expose the Chinese Communist regime’s atrocities of human rights abuse, in particular, the persecution against Falun Gong. The activity attracted a lot people’s attention and was supported by many individuals and groups. Many people were shocked to learn of the regime’s harvesting of organs from living Falun Gong practitioners. Many people signed to support the petition calling for an end to the regime’s atrocities. The following is the text of some of our interviews:

Falun Gong practitioners Liu Wei (left) and Wang Zhen (right) recount the torture they personally experienced to expose the Chinese regime’s persecution against Falun Gong practitioners.Wang Zhen demonstrates how he was tortured by other inmates in the Chinese forced labour camps. Other inmates kicked his legs and forcibly split them to the largest extent. His ligaments and joints in his hip were seriously damaged, which made him unable to stand up since then, but he still had to mop the floor by kneeling down on the floor.

	The conductor of a choir says that he hopes his efforts can awake Chinese official’s intrinsic conscience so that they are able to discern good from bad, and truly understand what kind of things they have done.

Members of the choir of O-Town Gospel singers sing songs to support the Human Right Torch Relay

Call for an end to the atrocious persecution immediately In his remark at the rally, Mr. Dierk Koch, director of the Humanitarian Association’s branch office in North-Rhine-Westphalia, said that he hoped the Global Human Right Torch Relay could awake leaders in the political, economic and sporting circles, so that they were able to step forward to put an end to this atrocious persecution immediately. When interviewed, he stressed that as a humanitarian, upon hearing of the Chinese regime’s harvesting of organs from living Falun Gong practitioners, he was infuriated and dumbfounded, and he even felt like vomiting when thinking of those perpetrators. That’s why he was there to express his views on this matter.

Falun Gong practitioners Liu Wei and Wang Zhen recounted the torture they personally experienced to expose the Chinese regime’s persecution against Falun Gong practitioners. Liu Wei is a Chinese student studying in Dortmund, Germany. Because of practicing Falun Gong, she was once imprisoned in Beijing Dongcheng forced labour camp without through any legal proceedings. Back then, over one hundred Falun Gong practitioners were illegally imprisoned there and many medical staff members were sent there with a variety of instruments to undertake physical examinations on Falun Gong practitioners, including blood tests and the examinations on their internal organs, but all of the practitioners had never received any report of these examinations.

Wang Zhen was illegally jailed in the Qingpu Third Forced Labour Camp in Shanghai from 2001 through 2003 because he insisted on practicing Falun Gong, where he was subjected to high intensity labour, brainwashing, cruel torture and other inmates’ abuse. In the labour camp, other inmates kicked his legs against the wall to forcibly split them to the largest extent. His ligaments and joints in his hip were completely damaged, which made him unable to stand up since then, but he still had to mop the floor by kneeling down on the floor. He was undergone blood tests and electrocardiograms (ECG) twice in the camp respectively. At that time, only Falun Gong practitioners were subject to physical examinations in the labour camp. Other inmates had never had physical examination even if they asked for it. The labour camp authorities told Falun Gong practitioners that the physical examination was indicative of the Chinese regime’s concern about Falun Gong members, but they had never received any report of the examination. At that time, Wang Zhen even mistook that the Chinese regime wanted to analyse Falun Gong practitioners’ blood to see if there is any special in it. It wasn’t until he arrived in foreign countries that he realised the Chinese regime intended to harvest their organ to make money.

The ten-year old O-Town –Gospel singers Choir had magnificent performances in the outdoor concert. They were highly acclaimed by the spectators with tumultuous applause and were encored time and again. Stefan Bechstein, conductor of the choir, perceived the wonderful interaction between the performers and the audience. He told the audience that though choir belonged to the church, they were pleased to participate in the activity caring for human rights, as it was not against the mission of the choir.

When interviewed, Stefan Bechstein mentioned, “I cannot imagine how a government would do such a thing as harvesting organs from living humans, and how could medical doctors remove internal organs from human bodies when they were still alive. I’m a nobody, but I hope through our endeavor, the intrinsic conscience of those who work with the Chinese government can be awakened, so that they are able to discern good from bad, and realise what kind of things they are doing. I must emphasise that I still love China very much.”

Among the bands coming to support the “Global Human Right Torch Week” activity was the Black Alley Rock Band. When interviewed, lead singer Andreas Strott stated that it is nonsense to hold the Olympic Games in countries without human rights like Chinese Communist Party-ruled China. As a result, upon hearing of the news about the outdoor concert marking the “Global Human Right Torch Week,” his band was pleased to decide to join the activity.

When it comes to the Chinese regime’s persecution against Falun Gong, Andreas Strott stated that it is indeed ridiculous. He said, “Personally, I may not be able to do much in this regard, but I think all of us should step forward to expose this kind of things. It is very meaningful to participate in the activity here today; through participating in the activity, we are able to help the general public know that the Chinese regime’s persecution of Falun Gong has something to do with them.” He also urged the people in China: “Never give up, and be steadfast! Though the government is cruel, you still need to have the courage to stand up.”

Greek singer, Mr. Ant. Pinreniokz, who lives in the suburbs of Cologne, said that as a Greek, he felt it was meaningful for him to participate in the “Global Human Right Week” activity there, since Greece has much to do with the Olympic Games. Because he thought harvesting organs from living Falun Gong practitioners is too terrible that he decided to participate in the activity.

After the rally came to an end, participants proceeded to a three-kilometre walk. Many people took initiative to join the activity along the way, including some international students from the U.S. When bumping into our reporters, one of the students by the name of Emily, who majored in political science, said she had heard of something about the Chinese regime’s atrocities of human right abuse and the persecution against Falun Gong in her Asian Politics class in the U.S. and she felt very fearful; she has also read the open letter to President Bush by lawyer Gao Zhisheng, and felt that what he wrote was very good; she hoped that Mr. Gao could get rid of the danger as soon as possible.

A politician who requested to be kept anonymous told our reporter that besides sending her an email, the organiser also made four phone calls to her. As she was so touched by what the organiser has done that she came to the rally. In terms of the Chinese Communist regime’s harvesting organs from living Falun Gong practitioners, she told the reporter that in addition to the material she read, she also listened to the testimonies given by two Falun Gong practitioners at the rally, and that she felt too terrible to express the degree of her fear. She added, “Given that, we must stand up and do something; as the world is moving towards globalisation nowadays, there have been many contradictions within China's political system. In the past, what I heard about Falun Gong was quite negative; therefore I didn’t pay much attention to things relating to Falun Gong. Now I have understood the facts about Falun Gong, and found that it is completely different from what I thought before. In this regard, the Chinese regime’s defamation of Falun Gong did cause some significant damages to Falun Gong. To reverse this situation, Falun Gong practitioners must do something more. My attitude towards Falun Gong has been entirely changed over the past several days, and I would try my best to tell others what I have experienced.”