According to new court docs, obtained by TMZ, Weinstein's attorney, Arthur Aidala, testified at a hearing Tuesday in a Manhattan courthouse and acknowledged that a grand jury has been empaneled to look into fresh allegations of criminal wrongdoing by HW.

During the hearing, Aidala told the court he is aware of 3 witnesses who testified before the grand jury in support of the prosecutor's request for a new indictment against his client.

Aidala later told TMZ ... he does not know the identities of the 3 people, but he seems to think all of them are new "complainant witnesses," who are accusing Weinstein of committing alleged sexual assaults.

Aidala believes two out of the three alleged assaults took place between 2005 to 2006 -- and a third in 2016.

You may recall ... Weinstein was convicted of sexually assaulting Mimi Haley and Jessica Mann at his first Manhattan trial in 2020 and sentenced to over 20 years in prison.

In April, HW's conviction was overturned on appeal, but the Manhattan D.A.'s Office decided to prosecute the case again.

At Tuesday's hearing, Aidala told the judge he wants to separate the Mann and Haley case from the potential new indictment coming down the pike.

Aidala also mentioned that Weinstein -- who suffers from a slew of physical ailments and is confined to a wheelchair -- might want to go before the grand jury to insist he's innocent.