RFA: German Church Bells Ring for Falun Gong Practitioners

(Clearwisdom.net) Radio Free Asia reported on June 27, 2006 that during a traditional Monday religious service in St. Nikolai Cathedral in Leipzig, Germany, Chinese student Zhang Zhentong appealed to the German public to show concern about his wife Wang Xiaoyan, who is in prison in Dalian City, China, and the persecution of Falun Gong by the Chinese Communist Party's regime.

In part because of its ancient historical culture, the city of Leipzig in eastern Germany was selected to be the main city of this year's World Cup. Recently, Wang Xiaoyan, the wife of Chinese student Zhang Zhentong who is studying at the University of Leipzig, has been imprisoned again. The incident has caught the public's attention. Monday, the famous St. Nikolai cathedral rang the church bells to pray for Wang Xiaoyan. This reporter interviewed Mr. Zhang Zhentong on this matter.

Zhang Zhentong said: "Back in time, this church had democracy and human rights as a background and theme; it is very interested in these subjects. It played an important role when the two Germanies were reunited. The famous Father Huelle of this church supports us very much. A week before, he met with us at his house."

Mr. Zhang has talked in details about his wife Wang Xiaoyan and the situation with all the other Falun Gong practitioners being persecuted in China.

Zhang Zhentong said: "Because the Monday religious service here is very famous, they often talk about democracy and human rights. At the Monday service, Father Huelle talked about the persecution of Falun Gong in China in detail--for example, the torture, how many people have been put in prisons. He also mentioned the numbers we had provided -- that more than 2,800 people have died as a result of persecution. Afterwards, he told people about the recently revealed organ harvesting atrocities."

Zhang Zhentong continued: "Father Huelle mentioned that this is to appeal to everyone to show concern and help. He also said that he will be paying attention to it as the situation changes. Before the release of my wife, they expressed that they would not keep silent, but will help until the end."St. Nikolai Cathedral, which played a significant role in the fall of the Berlin Wall, has a peace prayer service and peace parade each Monday, and this has become both a church and city tradition. According to the reporter, the issues about Wang Xiaoyan and Falun Gong have now become an important agenda of the Monday activities there.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2006/6/29/131727.html

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