(Clearwisdom.net, March 26, 2004) As Falun Dafa becomes better known in Germany, more and more German people are seeing and coming to understand the emblem of Falun Dafa, known as the Falun symbol. However, an incident recently took place that causes one to think carefully about the situation.
After the Second World War, many people became very sensitive to the display of the Srivatsa symbol (Swasktika) and subsequently wrongly associate the Falun symbol with its Nazi counterpart. In Germany, there is a law that prohibits the display of the Nazi symbol or other similar symbols.
On many occasions over the last few years, those with ulterior motives or people who did not know the truth regarded the Falun symbol as being against the law and reported it to the police. However, each time practitioners would go and let people know the truth, thus letting more of the police force hear about Falun Dafa and the persecution in China.
In Spring 2003, the chairman of the German Falun Dafa Association suddenly received a notice of indictment from the German Public Prosecutor, charging him with displaying the 'illegal' symbol on a German-registered website. Due to the 'seriousness' of this matter, the court gave the chairman only a week to hand in a written reply before a scheduled court trial.
Faced with such a situation, Dafa practitioners calmly held a discussion. Everyone reached a consensus: to make full use of this opportunity to further explain the facts to the Public Prosecutor, the judge and the German people. Very quickly, practitioners submitted a long letter to the District Court through a lawyer, explaining in detail the meaning of the Falun symbol, introducing Falun Dafa and explaining the truth about the persecution.
The case, which was originally intended to come to trial, was quickly postponed and no further information was provided. The lawyer became a little impatient and rang to ask the judge what was happening. The judge confirmed that he had read the letter but needed some time to understand the situation and hoped that we could continue to wait.
A few months went by. The day before the opening of the 2003 European Falun Dafa Experience Sharing Conference in Berlin, practitioners received a court verdict sent by Dr Munchbach, the head of the District Court, judging the Falun symbol to be legal and reasonable in Germany and stating that all expenses related to the case would be borne by the prosecutor.
In the court verdict, the judge also pointed out that in appearance, the Falun symbol and the illegal symbol are entirely different from each other and their meaning is also completely opposite. He said, "The Falun symbol represents peace and harmony in the mind which is also what the Falun Gong movement firmly advocates."
After understanding the truth, the judge also wrote the following into the court verdict document: "There are Falun Gong followers all over the world. Presently Falun Gong is being brutally persecuted in its country of origin, China. To date, 35,000 people have been arrested and several hundred of its leading cadres have been sentenced from 2 to 12 years imprisonment without any convicting evidence."
The public prosecutor could not accept the verdict of the court in the first instance and subsequently lodged an appeal to a higher court. Still maintaining a calm attitude, practitioners regarded every opportunity to clarify the truth with righteous thoughts as precious. After careful investigation and research into the District Court's verdict and both parties' appeals, the higher court made a final judgment in March 2003, upholding the original judgment and refusing an application to appeal further.
Thus after several setbacks, the Falun symbol is finally able to emit its radiance in Germany without constraint, illuminating a path that leads to a beautiful future for the German people.
Source: http://www.clearharmony.net/articles/200403/18636.html
