Crimean Tatar activist Bekir Degermendzhi, who was detained by the Russian occupation authorities in Crimea late in Nov. 2017 as part of the Vedzhie Kashka case, is in critical condition, the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs demands his release.
“Degermendzhi’s condition is critical. The invader continues to kill off Crimean Tatars quietly. We protest against the Russian Federation’s actions, demand his release,” the Foreign Ministry spokesman Mariana Betsa wrote on Twitter on Jan.12.
On Nov.23, searches were carried out in Simferopol, Simeiz, Kholodivka, Hrushivka, Yuzhne. Ruslan Trubach, Bekir Degermendzhi, Asan Chapukh, Kazim Ametov, Kurtseit Abdullayev, Kazim Ametov and Vedzhie Kashka were detained. Kashka, aged 82, was hospitalized and subsequently died.
On Dec.14, Degermendzhi was urgently hospitalized from Simferopol’s detention center.
On Jan.2, 2018, he was again sent to the prison.
On Jan.12, the court of the occupied Simferopol extended the arrest of the people detained as part of the Vedzhie Kashka case.
