Jewish NYC councilwoman Inna Vernikov is arraigned on firearms charges after wearing a gun on her waist while opposing pro-Palestine rally – as her lawyer questions the use of a ‘possibly altered’ social media photo as evidence in the case

A New York City councilwoman who was arrested after carrying a gun around her waist as she opposed a pro-Palestinian rally at CUNY’s Brooklyn College was arraigned Thursday in Kings County Court in Brooklyn.

Brooklyn Republican Councilwoman Inna Vernikov, who is Jewish, looked stony-faced in the courtroom but said nothing.

Her lawyer Arthur Aidala questioned the validity of his client’s photo taken into evidence last month and demanded a ballistics report from prosecutors.

Speaking to DailyMail.com outside court, Aidala said: ‘The rules of evidence are that a human having to make these descriptions (of a possible crime), not based on what you see on a computer screen, is not reliable evidence.’

“The bottom line is, they didn’t have a ballistics report today, so we don’t even know if the weapon works,” he explained.

Vernikov (right) in Kings County Court in Brooklyn for her arraignment on Thursday

Lawyer Arthur Aidala (pictured) questioned the validity of his client’s photo, which was taken into evidence last month, and demanded a ballistics report from prosecutors.

“The first step is to make sure it’s an operable weapon. If it’s not an operable weapon, it’s not a crime because it could just be a toy.

And he added: ‘So they have to prove that the weapon worked. “I’m assuming they’ll have a ballistics report in January on whether it worked, and then they’ll have a witness who actually saw her with a gun.”

The judge scheduled Vernikov’s next hearing for Jan. 24 and told her she is not allowed to carry firearms in the meantime.

Dozens of protesters waited outside the Kings County Court on Thursday demanding Vernikov’s resignation as they called for a ceasefire in the war-torn Middle East.

One protester told DailyMail.com: ‘It’s important that we come out today and make it loud and clear in the courts and across New York City that what Vernikov did was a crime for which she should be convicted. municipality, because that is not the way a civil servant should act.’

And he added, “Regardless of whether it was a real weapon or not, as a public official you show up to a school campus with a weapon that poses a threat.”

Vernikov turned herself in to the NYPD early Friday after her appearance at CUNY’s Flatbush campus, where hundreds of people gathered in support of Palestine after the Hamas attack killed more than 1,000 Israelis.

Officials reportedly contacted her to inform her she was being charged with criminal possession of a weapon, The New York Post reported.

Dozens of protesters waited outside the Kings County Court on Thursday demanding Vernikov’s resignation as they called for a ceasefire in the war-torn Middle East.

Protesters hold up a banned lecture ‘Within our lives’ outside the court on Thursday

Brooklyn Republican Councilwoman Inna Vernikov, who is Jewish, looked stony-faced in the courtroom but said nothing

Vernikov represents Brighton Beach, Sheepshead Bay and nearby neighborhoods, and is a member of the Council’s Standards and Ethics Committee

Vernikov, 39, was released with a ticket and ordered to surrender her gun, a Smith & Wesson 9 millimeter, as well as her concealed carry permit, which she had just obtained last month.

Although she had a permit, it is a Class E misdemeanor to bring a weapon onto a protest or school site, which are considered “sensitive locations.”

“I’m here at the pro-Hamas rally at the university in Brooklyn. There are a lot of police and we have made sure that the Jewish students feel safe today, but here they are shouting and shouting: ‘Intifada, globalize the Intifida!’ Vernikov said on a video of the protest on X.

“If you stand here today with these people, without the bombs you are nothing less than a terrorist,” she added.

Vernikov represents Brighton Beach, Sheepshead Bay and nearby neighborhoods, and is a member of the Council’s Standards and Ethics Committee.