A Ukrainian man was arraigned Wednesday on hate crime prices for allegedly slashing a compatriot in a Brooklyn bar brawl as a result of he “appeared Russian,” prosecutors stated.
Oleg Sulyma, 31, is dealing with an tried homicide rap for allegedly attacking 36-year-old Andrii Meleshkov with a damaged beer bottle on April 25 at Falada lounge in Sheepshead Bay after he demanded proof that the sufferer was Ukrainian.
Sulyma allegedly went as much as the sufferer and two others at a desk at 3:45 p.m. and declared “you look Russian,” Brooklyn District Legal professional Eric Gonzalez stated in a information launch.
“I'll present you what an actual Ukrainian is,” he allegedly stated, earlier than smashing two beer bottles and stabbing Meleshkov within the neck and face with the shards, the discharge stated.
Sulyma was arraigned in entrance of Brooklyn Supreme Court docket Justice Danny Chun on a 24-count indictment that included hate crime prices of tried homicide, assault and tried assault, the DA acknowledged.
“This defendant allegedly tried to homicide an harmless Ukrainian man who he believed to be Russian in a hateful and violent rage,” Gonzalez stated in an announcement.
“Brooklyn’s range makes our borough so vibrant, and hate-motivated violence won't ever be tolerated right here,” he went on. “Prosecutors in our Hate Crimes Bureau will vigorously search accountability on this case, and we'll proceed to work with our neighborhood and regulation enforcement companions to finish the troubling uptick in bias-related incidents in our neighborhoods.”
Melshkov, who ended up with 17 stitches, instructed The Submit in a earlier interview that his mother was Russian and he was born and raised in Japanese Ukraine. His group was talking Russian, which many Ukrainians converse as a primary language, when Sulyma approached them.
“We switched to Ukrainian to be able to calm him down, but it surely was getting him increasingly more agitated and he began asking us to translate phrases to show that we’re Ukrainian,” Meleshkov instructed The Submit.
Sulyma then instructed them to say the phrase “Palianytsia,” a sort of Ukrainian bread that native Russian audio system have a tough time announcing, prosecutors alleged.
An lawyer for the attacker stated in courtroom beforehand that his consumer was a sufferer, having been “pummeled” and crushed by the three associates within the bar brawl. Sulyma allegedly suffered a collapsed lung and different accidents, lawyer Arthur Gershfeld stated.
Gershfeld didn’t reply to an e-mail from The Submit on Wednesday.
Sulyma is out on supervised launch and due again in courtroom Aug. 8, prosecutors stated.
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