The conservative Welt am Sonntag (‘World on Sunday’) in an article monitored Monday, February 18, by BosNewsLife and its partner Website www.manna-vandaag.nl said 24-year-old Bernhard Wilden from the German city of Cologne died December 23, 2006, under suspicious circumstances.
It quoted his parents, Regina and Gerhard Wilden, as saying they doubt he committed suicide as suggested by Chinese police investigators. Officials said at the time that Bernhard, who studied Sinology, or ‘Chinese Studies’, died because he jumped from a fire staircase of a high building in Haidian, Beijing’s main student district.
However Regina en Gerhard Wilden told the newspaper that two days before his alleged suicide he called them, saying he felt "threatened" and that he wanted to return home. The next day, Bernhard allegedly also wrote them an e-mail, saying he had been "closely monitored by Chinese secret police."
SUICIDE "UNTHINKABLE"
His parents described their son as someone for whom "suicide was unthinkable because of his faith" in Christ. "Our son was a balanced person with excellent study results," they told Welt am Sonntag. They said he was apparently killed because of his close ties with an underground
Chinese house church, which was not recognized by authorities. Gerhard Wilden claimed he only found out about his son’s church activities last month during a visit to China to investigate Bernhard’s death.
He said there are "contradictions" in the official statement made by Chinese authorities. Bernhard would not have been able to reach the high fire staircase from outside, while inside the building the door leading up to the staircase was locked, also on that fateful night, his
father said. In addition there was apparently a fence surrounding the staircase, making it virtually impossible to jump from it.
Gerhard Wilden said he had spoken with a fellow student who saw the body of Bernhard almost immediately after his death. The student reportedly said there were no visible injuries or blood stains on Berhnard’s clothing.
Welt am Sonntag said it does not rule out that Bernhard was killed by members of China’s feared Bureau 601, a Communist Party-led unit specialized in "the persecution of religious minorities."
OLYMPIC GAMES
Perhaps China "wanted to prevent for any price that young German students would learn about the persecution of Christians" in the country, the paper added. The latest report came shortly after the US-based religious rights group China Aid Association (CAA) said that persecution of Christians in China increased in recent months. CAA and other rights watchers have suggested that China wants to ensure that Christians will not use the Olympic Games
to spread Christianity or ask world attention for their plight.
Several prominent persons have either abandoned cooperation with China or called for a boycott of the Olympics because of China’s alleged involvement in human rights abuses. Last week, American Director Steven Spielberg said he had given up his position as an adviser to the Chinese Olympic Committee because of China’s oil interests in Sudan. He alleged that revenues of China’s oil deals ensure that Sudanese military groups continue their "genocide" in the region of Darfur. South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu has supported his call for a boycott of the games.
In the Netherlands, which has a long tradition of aiding political refugees, the governing ChristianUnion party urged all Dutch sports people and their coaches to boycott the opening ceremony of the games. "It’s unacceptable for Dutch sports people to have a party in Beijing, while a few hundred meters away, people are detained," said ChristianUnion Parliamentarian Joel Voordewind.
There were no immediate reactions from Chinese officials. So far, China’s government has denied human rights abuses, saying Christians are free to worship within the official Catholic and Protestant churches.
