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Last October, authorities were trying to figure out who had left copies of the Koran in toilets on Pace University's Manhattan campus. With other hate incidents occurring at Pace's Manhattan and Westchester campuses (a swastika on a bathroom wall, the n-word written on a car), students were rattled and questioned whether the school had reacted quickly and forcefully enough. Now, months later, the police have made an arrest.
Twenty-three-year-old Stanislav Shmulevich was charged with criminal mischief and aggravated harassment as hate crimes. Shmulevich, a business major at Pace who lives in Brooklyn, had been "confronted" with surveillance photographs taken on the days of the Koran dunkings and reportedly made "admitting statements."
His roommate told the Daily News she was shocked. "It's impossible. He was defending the Koran. We had that conversation. He said, 'Don't criticize the Koran if you haven't read it.' Why would he do something so stupid?" His father, who lives on Staten Island, said, "He's a good son. He's a hard worker and he's about to graduate from college. He works full time at night and then he goes to school. I'm surprised, utterly surprised. I don't know what happened."
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He said, 'Don't criticize the Koran if you haven't read it.' Why would he do something so stupid?
i guess he had read it.
I'm not surprised that it's a white guy.
where's al sharpton on this?
Wait - isn't he a commenter on Gothamist?
Could someone please tell me, since when is it a crime to destroy a book? It's a physical object. Did he steal it from someone else? Because stealing is a crime. But if it was his book, he has the right to do whatever the hell he wants with it. We're not living under sharia law yet, last time I checked.
It's not just a book, I believe it's an extension of the religion, just like the Bible with Christianity, Judaism, etc; I'm not surprised that he's been charged with performing such an act. I'm not sure about the ownership rights, but he didn't say that it was his anyway. But I wonder why this whole "Koran in the toilet" is enough to make it into the headlines, and not the swastika and N-word etchings that have been going on in the campus...:T
It's a crime to spray paint a swastika or the "N-words" or anything else on someone else's property; but, it's not a crime to wear a shirt with a swastika on it. And, it's not a crime to say the "N-word," or to think mean thoughts. With the kid who put a book in the toilet, you can disagree with his views if you want. But, he didn't commit a crime unless he stole something or damaged someone else's property in some way. We don't have thought crimes in this country.
he got caught, that dumb staten island white trash whitey commie white trash commie marxist commie pinko white trash.
The koran itself it a hate crime against Jews, Christians, and any non-Muslim. If you've read the passages you would understand.
In order to be "charged with performing an act," as you put it, that act has to be a crime. It's not a crime to destroy a book. It's not a crime to have negative opinions about someone else's belief system. So unless there's some other factor here such as theft or destruction of somebody else's property, this is not a crime.
But, you don't seem to think it's relevant whether this Koran belonged to the kid or not.
In your world, what other belief systems are we not allowed to mock or criticize? What if I go buy a copy of L. Ron Hubbard's "Dianetics," and stand on the street corner and rip it up?
It's shocking and distressing to see how many liberals, who used to stand up for free speech, now stand silent and shrug their shoulders at this reintroduction of "blasphemy" back into criminal law after however many decades or centuries.
Whoever this Stanislav guy is, he IS a criminal. The Koran copy wasn't his - it belonged to the Pace Library, and he took it, and threw it into a toilet.
Thusly, for that he is a criminal. I also think it is a hate crime. I can only hope though, that if it had been a Bible, or the Torah, that had been thrown into the toilet, that still such an investigation would have been raised.
Possible crimes: theft and destruction of property. That's it.
In the US, you are allowed to create, alter, multilate, repair and/or destroy books. Including the Bible, the sacred text of our foundation culture.
Why should destroying a Koran be a crime, when destroying a Bible is not? Because Muslims demand it? Well, of course they do! D'uh!!
Question is - are YOU going to be a dhimmi?
These so-called "hate crimes" are really just "thought crimes." And I'm always stunned that liberals want people to be punished for thought crimes. That liberals want their fellow liberals to be dhimmis.
- Liberal but not guilty