NEW YORK—The first hearing was held on the Qiu Wei case June 26. Qiu is facing 7 charges, including 2nd-degree assault and 3rd-degree criminal mischief.
Qiu Wei, whose American name is Victor Yau, was arrested on June 21 in Flushing after having attacked a Falun Gong practitioner with a metal steering wheel lock in Brooklyn on June 15. Among the seven charges he is now facing, the two most serious are 2nd-degree assault and 3rd-degree criminal mischief, both of which are felonies.
This first hearing included Qiu's victim, John Yu, witnesses, and the Brooklyn District Attorney. The attack by Qiu is a continuation of his long history of spreading hatred against Falun Gong, a peaceful meditation practice which has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) since 1999.
Since May 17, Falun Gong practitioners have been targets of verbal and physical attacks in Flushing. The attacks were initiated by pro-communist groups after CCP-controlled media broadcast fabricated reports that Falun Gong practitioners had blocked funds from reaching victims of the Sichuan earthquake. Since then, Qiu has been at the front line, spreading hate materials throughout New York, and leading up to his June 15 attack of Yu.
"I think it's very important to make people aware, the general public, and local government officials," said Yu. "At the moment the U.S. Congress has been working on a 'dear colleague' letter to inform their colleagues in the House of Representatives side about what's going on in Flushing. And then they'll send a letter to President Bush urging him to pay more attention to this."
"I think the U.S. government should definitely look into it, take it more seriously," said Yu.
Regarding Qiu's court case, Yu relayed his thoughts about the importance the charges have and its impact on how people regard such crimes.
"We have to put a stop to this, otherwise it will send a very wrong message to the CCP," Yu said. "Basically it will be taken as an okay, that we don't really care, so they'll keep escalating the persecution against Falun Gong, and keep exporting brutality into the United States."
Feeds