(Minghui.org) On August 13, 2012, a Neighborhood Court in San Francisco's Chinatown heard the case filed by the local prosecutor regarding the assault of Falun Gong practitioners by Chinese Communist Party followers in two incidents last June. Based on the testimony of both sides, the court ruled that the two assailants are forbidden to get within ten feet of the practitioners, and write an apology to the Falun Gong practitioners they assaulted.
The court verdict stated that Yongyao Wu must attend a four-hour anger management class, write an apology to the Falun Gong practitioner he assaulted, and is forbidden to approach within ten feet of the practitioner. Another assailant, Jingjun Chin, was ordered to write an apology to the Falun Gong practitioner he assaulted and is forbidden to approach within ten feet of the practitioner he assaulted
The attorney representing the two Falun Gong practitioners, Dr. Terri E. Marsh, wrote: “These are the routine sentences given to first time offenders. If the offenders learn their lesson, the court would have served its function. If in the alternative, the offenders continue to physically assault Falun Gong believers in Chinatown (or anywhere else), they will be subjected to far harsher sanctions.”
The hearing started at 9 a.m. The hearing committee is composed of a prosecutor from the City of San Francisco and volunteer adjudicators. After the hearing, the administrator of the Neighborhood Court and Assistant District Attorney Ms. Katherine W. Miller stated that the ruling is final. If the defendants refuse to comply with the ruling, the court has the right to apply additional enforcements.
Attorney: America does not tolerate hate crimes targeting Falun Gong.
In the afternoon, Dr. Marsh, who is representing the Falun Gong practitioners, received the verdict from the Neighborhood Court. In her statement, Dr. Marsh said: “The case heard at the San Francisco Neighborhood Court is about the role of freedom of conscience in the Polis, i.e., the city or Nation-state. As Socrates made clear in Ancient Athens, a city or state that does not protect freedom of conscience or freedom of religion is at risk. This is because these twin fundamental freedoms are essential to the integrity and vitality of a city, state or nation.”
The statement also said that “The assailants who were charged with injuring the Falun Gong believers in Chinatown trampled upon these freedoms in Chinatown, acting as if the United States was not founded on the protection of these fundamental norms. They behaved as if they were residing in the PRC where such behavior is not only tolerated but incited by the Party, its henchmen and thugs.”
Two assaults are a part of serial attacks against Falun Gong
Two photos showed assailants attacking Falun Gong practitioners.
The first assault happened on June 10 when Falun Gong practitioners were clarifying the truth at the corner of Grant avenue and Washington street. The practitioners were attacked by a group of assailants instigated by the Chinese Communist Party. Yongyao Wu attacked practitioner Derek Wang, a 6-foot man, with two punches to his face. When he heard the police coming, Wu attempted to flee but was blocked by Falun Gong practitioners. Assailant Jingjun Chin attempted to help Wu leave by attacking practitioner Dafang Wang in the face and chest, giving Wang a bloody lip. When policemen arrived, they watched the recorded video and immediately wrote citations to assailants Wu and Chin.
On June 16, when Falun Gong practitioners returned to the corner of Grant and Washington to talk to passersby about the attack the previous week, Jingjun Chin attacked two practitioners, Ms. Christine Yang and Helena Li, with wooden display boards, causing bruises on the victims' heads and arms. Practitioners called 911 and upon arrival the policemen gathered evidence and arrested Jingjun Chin.
According to an incomplete survey, there have been over ten attacks against Falun Gong practitioners in San Francisco in the past eight months, and eight of these happened in Chinatown.
Falun Gong practitioners said those attacks are not isolated individual cases, but are hate crimes. The only reason behind the attacks are the propaganda from the Chinese Consulate, who instigated the assailants to attack Falun Gong practitioners.
Since July 1999, when the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) started the persecution of Falun Gong, thousands of practitioners in China have been tortured and jailed. In America and other countries, the practitioners have also been harassed by the CCP's accomplices. One of the assailants, Jingjun Chin, has been cursing, slandering and promoting hatred against Falun Gong practitioners in Chinatown since 1999.
Another assailant, Yongyao Wu, didn't know any of the practitioners before, but he cursed the practitioners holding display boards and assaulted a practitioner who is taller and younger. The only reasonable explanation is that his mind was poisoned by the propaganda from the Chinese Communist Party.
Attorney Representing Falun Gong Urged DOJ to Investigate the Series of Hate Crimes
Attorney Terri Marsh, who represented the Falun Gong practitioners, has written to the Department of Justice, asking for an investigation into a series of hate crimes against Falun Gong since October 2011 in San Francisco.
