Zaporizhzhya Region's Pryazovske District court on 23 August sentenced the former acting chief of the Mariupol police, Donetsk Region, Oleh Morhun, in absentia to 11 years in prison for joining the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR), the regional prosecutor's office said in a statement on Wednesday.
Morhun temporarily headed the Mariupol police department after pro-Russian militants abducted its former chief Valeriy Andrushchuk in May 2014.
However, already on 18 May, Morhun took part in a news conference along with other DPR militants in a seized police building.
After the liberation of Mariupol and his dismissal from police, Morhun fled to the separatist-controlled territory in Novoazovsk, joined the DPR and headed the administration of Novoazovsk District in March 2015.