Kashka Vedzhie (Kashka Vedzhiye)

Crimean Tatar activist and political prisoner. On November 23, 2017, FSB operatives and the Crimean Ministry of Internal Affairs conducted a large-scale joint operation in annexed Crimea to detain members of the banned extremist Crimean Tatar Mejlis. Searches were conducted simultaneously in three settlements: in Feodosia, Simferopol, and the village of Gruzhevka near Sudak. In the Simferopol cafe 'Medobory,' 82-year-old activist of the Crimean Tatar national movement Vedzhie Kashka, 57-year-old Bekir Degermendzhi, and 64-year-old Asan Chapukh were detained. During the detention, an elderly woman became ill, an ambulance was called for her, but she died before reaching the hospital. In the village of Gruzhevka, the former chairman of the Mejlis of the village of Kazyma Ametov was detained, and in Feodosia, Crimean Tatar activist Ruslan Trubach was detained. During a search at Chapuk's house, weapons and ammunition were allegedly found, but there is no evidence that they belong to him. Crimean residents were accused of extorting $7000 from Turkish citizen Yusuf Aytan. The Kyiv District Court of Simferopol placed them in a pre-trial detention center. All defendants in the case rejected the charges. According to their version, Turkish citizen Yusuf Aitana gained the trust of the elderly and sick woman, Vedzhie Kashka. He borrowed money from her and then refused to return it. All the detainees turned to Aitana with requests to return the money, but there was no extortion, threats, or anything else. Aytan himself later stated that the money was indeed there, but it was not he who spent it, but Vejie Kashka's granddaughter Aliye, with whom they were cohabiting. In May 2017, Chapukha was charged under the article on illegal possession of weapons and ammunition. On January 24, 2019, the Kyiv District Court of Simferopol changed the measure of restraint for Degermendzhi, Ametova, and Trubach to house arrest. On April 17, 2019, the Kyiv District Court of Simferopol found the defendants guilty and sentenced Ruslan Trubach, Bekir Degermendzhi, and Kazim Ametov to 3 years of probation with a probationary period of 3 years, while Asan Chapukh was sentenced to 3.5 years of probation with a probationary period of 3 years. On October 29, 2019, the Supreme Court of the Republic of Crimea upheld the sentence.