On November 23rd forced actions of the RF FSB and MIA in Crimea not only were followed with illegal deprivation of liberty of Crimean Tatar People representatives bur also cause a tragedy – Mrs Vejie Kashka, a 83rd year’s old veteran of the national Crimean Tatar movement, died.
Having reviewed the data available as well as manipulative presentation of the information in the Russian and controlled Crimean mass media, the CHRG experts think that a fake testimony made by Mr Yusuf Aitan, a Turkish citizen, have been used by the FSB as attempt to defame the Crimean Tatar People Mejlis. All the publications on these events in the mass media controlled by the Kremlin are focused specifically on ‘the membership of all the detained in the Crimean Tatar People Mejlis’. These videos are illustrated with the building where the Mejlis office was before the Russian occupation of Crimea. Though the activists state that there are no Mejlis members among the detained, the official Russian sources keep on stressing out a ‘supposed’ involvement of the Crimean Tatar People Mejlis members’. Such actions of the occupation authorities are an intended campaign aimed at defaming the Crimean Tatar People Mejlis in order to justify an unlawful ban on its activities in Crimea.
Thus, Russia is not just disregarding Order of UN International Court of 19 April 2017 on provisional measures (on the Application of the International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism and of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (Ukraine v. Russian Federation)) but strengthening discrimination acts against the Crimean Tatar activists. Earlier the CHRG has stated the inadmissibility of prohibiting the activities of the Crimean Tatar People Mejlis and dangerous consequences of such ban.
Through the controlled information resources, Russia is trying to create a negative image of the Crimean Tatar People Mejlis, having an intention, by doing this, to justify its unlawful actions on declaring it an extremist organization.
The CHRG condemns such practice of the occupation authorities and highlights that defaming to justify the human rights abuse and discrimination is untenable.
The today’s actions of the RF security bodies, first of all, those that caused the death of Mrs Vejie Kashka, must be legally assessed by the law enforcement agencies of Ukraine within criminal investigations. Ukraine and the international community should take all and any possible actions to bring the guilty in gross human rights violations to justice.
In Crimea in the morning of the 23rd November 2017 activists of Crimean Tatar national movement: Bekir Degermenji, Asan Chapukh and Kiazim Ametov were detained in one of Simferopol cafes. One of the oldest national movement activists – Mrs Vejie Kashka – was together with them in the café. She felt bad on detaining and soon died in the ambulance car. The detainment was carried out by officers of Center E and police, supported by RF FSB.
According to the information of Anton Naumliuk, a SVOBODA Radio Company journalist, on November 23rd the security officers detained also Crimean Russlan Trubach who was going by bus together with his wife towards the Crimean administrative border. All detained were transported to Center E in Simferopol.
The Russian mass media stated that the detained activists were suspected in squeezing USD 7,000 from Mr Yusuf Aitan, a Turkish citizen, (Article 163.2 of RF CC ‘Extortion performed by a group of people’) and published video of detaining produced by the FSB.
The General Prosecutor’s Office of Ukraine has started criminal cases on the fact of unlawful searches, detainments and death of the Crimean Tatar national movement activist. As the agency press office has informed, the procedure under ‘intentional homicide’ article has been started upon the death of Mrs Vejie Kashka.
