The head of the illegal armed group "DPR" Denis Pushilin was sentenced in absentia to 15 years behind bars. This was reported by the Donetsk Regional Prosecutor's Office.
"Following a public prosecution by prosecutors of the Donetsk Regional Prosecutor's Office, a citizen of Ukraine was sentenced for encroachment on the territorial integrity and inviolability of Ukraine and collaboration. He was sentenced in absentia to the maximum penalty of 15 years in prison with the deprivation of the right to hold positions in public authorities, state administration, local self-government related to the provision of public services, the performance of organizational-administrative and administrative-economic functions for 15 years and confiscation of property," the statement said.
According to the prosecutor's office, in September 2022, Pushilin, the head of the self-proclaimed DPR, held a fake meeting of the "council" where a law "on the DPR referendum on joining the Russian Federation" was adopted. Later, he publicly called for the accession of the temporarily occupied territory to the Russian Federation, which is recognized as an encroachment on Ukraine's territorial integrity.
