United States: New York's Superior Court to Try Liang Guanjun and Accomplices for Assault

On November 30th, 2004, attorney Lan Han representing Falun Gong practitioners officially requested that Liang Guanjun and his accomplices be brought to trial, rather than have the matter be settled out of court.

On June 23, 2003, Liang Guanjun and other individuals with links to the Chinese Communist Party verbally and physically attacked Falun Gong practitioners outside the Yidong Restaurant in New York City. Attorney Lana Han has delivered the appropriate documents to the court. It has been learned that Lana Han received a court notice the next day, stating the New York Superior Court will hold a hearing on December 20, 2004.

On June 22, 2004, Falun Gong practitioners filed a civil lawsuit against Liang Guanjun and his accomplices, charging them with six counts of action: battery, assault, conspiracy, defamation, intent to inflict emotional distress and violation of civil rights. On July 3, 2004, the defendants received a subpoena from New York Superior Court.

On June 23, 2003, Wang Yingfan, a departing UN ambassador from China and Zhang Hongxi, the Consul-General from the Chinese Consulate in New York City, attended a banquet held at the Yidong Restaurant in New York City's Chinatown. Falun Gong practitioners appealed outside the restaurant. Members of this group attacked the Falun Dafa practitioners, injuring practitioners Li Jun and Zhu Weiyong in the assault. The practitioners reported this to the police, and Liang Guanjun was subsequently charged with third degree assault. On June 25, 2003, Liang Guanjun was served with a criminal subpoena and the police recorded his crime. The investigator for the Manhattan area also conducted a criminal investigation of the incident.

Liang Guanjun is the president of the New York Confederation of Chinese Associations (NYCCA) and he has a history of harassing and interfering with Falun Gong practitioners' activities in New York. The NYCCA has close connections with the Chinese consulate and has been involved in numerous activities co-sponsored by consular-general Zhang Hongxi to attack and incite hatred against Falun Gong. Zhang Hongxi has slandered and attacked Falun Gong on many occasions and has constantly tried to pit the Chinese community against Falun Gong.

Ms. Xiong, a Falun Gong practitioner in New York, said that in the past five years, Jiang's faction has employed a combination of lies, propaganda, financial incentives and coercion to force Chinese people to participate in the persecution of Falun Gong. Jiang's faction also uses overseas pro-Party Chinese community leaders to spread lies and incite discrimination against Falun Gong practitioners. The assault perpetrated by Liang Guanjun and his accomplices is only one example of the Chinese government-ordered persecution of Falun Gong practitioners that has extended overseas.

In the past five years, Falun Gong practitioners have tirelessly exposed the lies and clarified the truth with sincerity and kindness, and with peaceful and legal means. Falun Gong practitioners in the New York area will expose the truth behind the inciting of hatred committed by pro-Party Chinese community leaders and Chinese consular officials, and they will bring the perpetrators to justice.

U.S officials enquiring about the details of the case have expressed great concern regarding this attack. New Jersey Senator Lautenberg said, "The beating of Falun Gong practitioners in New York is absolutely unacceptable." Senator Lautenberg thinks it constitutes a hate crime, saying, "If the Chinese government really took part in this and is interfering with freedom of belief in our land, it absolutely cannot be tolerated."

The assault was mentioned in U.S. Congressional Resolution 304, which was passed on October 4, 2004, "WHEREAS on June 23, 2003, Falun Gong practitioners were attacked outside a Chinese restaurant in New York City by local United States-based individuals with reported ties to the Chinese Government." The resolution asks that "the [U.S.] President should...issue an official public demarche, a formal protest, with the Chinese Foreign Ministry in response to the repeated violations by the Chinese Government of basic human rights protected in international covenants to which the People's Republic of China is a signatory; and...the Attorney General should investigate reports that Chinese consular officials in the United States have committed illegal acts while attempting to intimidate or inappropriately influence Falun Gong practitioners or local elected officials and, in consultation with the Secretary of State, determine an appropriate legal response; and...officials of local governments in the United States should...report incidents of pressure or harassment by agents of the People's Republic of China to Members of Congress, the Attorney General and the Secretary of State."

Attorney Lana Han said that Liang Guanjun and his accomplices must be brought to justice because they wilfully harassed, threatened and inflicted harm upon Falun Gong practitioners. Their use of violence against peaceful Falun Gong practitioners cannot be tolerated in any civilised society governed by the rule of law.