Germany: Arte TV Provides Coverage of "Human Rights Torch Relay" Activity in Berlin

German's Arte TV provided news coverage on August 18, 2007 about the activities of the "Human Rights Torch Relay" in Berlin. The TV channel also interviewed Ms. Dai Zhizhen, an Australian Falun Gong practitioner, in front of the Chinese Embassy in Berlin where Falun Gong practitioners held the activities. Ms. Dai's husband was persecuted to death in China by the Chinese communist regime for practicing Falun Gong.

The news coverage mentioned, "A human rights torch with the nature of protest was lit in Athens, Greek on August the 9th and was carried to Berlin today. As the 2008 Olympics will be held in Beijing one year from now, the organizers of the activities want to raise the attention of the general public about the ongoing human rights violations in China."

Using the Chinese Embassy as the background, Ms. Alexandra Jaenicke, a reporter associated with the TV channel, introduced Ms. Dai to the audience. She said, "Ms. Dai has experienced in person how seriously human rights are infringed in China. In order to catch public attention, she came to the Chinese Embassy in Berlin to attend the protest. Her deceased husband was a Falun Gong practitioner like her. He was imprisoned and brutally murdered because he openly clarified the truth about Falun Gong and called upon the Chinese communist regime to stop the persecution 6 years ago."

Referring to a photo held in her hand, Ms. Dai said, "This is my husband and my daughter when she was 6 months old. It is the last family photo we took together. There are millions of families in China under the same situation like mine. They can't protest publicly. There are also millions of children suffering from the same pain as my daughter does. None of us can see their tears or hear their cries."

Ms. Jaenicke continued, "Being an Australian citizen, Ms. Dai can bring her daughter, travel to various countries and tell the whole world what has actually happened to her family, how the imprisoned Falun Gong practitioners in China's labor camps are forcibly brainwashed, and how their organs are harvested for transplants."

Ms. Dai said, "I visited the Auschwitz concentration camp with my daughter. Visitors of the concentration camp were from all over the world but none of them could leave with smiles. The world once vowed, 'Never Again'. However, a similar situation is happening in China now."

Mr. Volker Dietz, a member of CIPFG (Coalition to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong in China) that organized the Human Rights Torch Relay, said, "We stand in Berlin now for a reason. During the 1936 Olympic Games when similar large-scale propaganda was held in Berlin, concentration camps were built just several kilometers away simultaneously. The Chinese communist regime is repeating the history--they are lavishly preparing their propaganda and performances while concentration camps have been built and existed for several years.

Ms. Jaenicke added, "Not only will Ms. Dai boycott the Beijing Olympics, she will also call upon the entire world to stop the autocracy of the Chinese regime so that other Falun Gong practitioners will not suffer the same fate as her husband."