Former occupying "mayor" of Mariupol has been charged with criminal offence relating to seizure of "abandoned property"
On May 28, 2026, the Investigative Department of the Main Directorate of the National Police in the Donetsk region announced that it had charged the so-called "mayor" of Mariupol, appointed by the occupiers, in connection with the unlawful seizure of property belonging to Ukrainian citizens.
The dossier on this collaborator was published in The Book of the Executioners of the Ukrainian People, according to Censor.NET.
Who is the suspect?
Oleg Valeriyovych Morgun—a native of the village of Sadkivtsi in Vinnytsia rett, a former law enforcement officer.
In the summer of 2014, he was appointed acting head of the Mariupol City Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in the Donetsk region, replacing Valery Andrushchuk, the head of the city department who had been abducted by terrorists; however, he defected to the enemy. After being dismissed from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, he settled in the temporarily occupied territory. On March 12, 2015, he headed the administration of the Novoazovsk District established by the occupiers. In connection with this, in 2017, the Pryazovsk District Court of Zaporizhzhia Oblast sentenced him in absentia to 11 years in prison for participating in a terrorist organization.
In November 2023, he voluntarily assumed the position of the so-called "acting head (mayor) of the Mariupol City District."
Circumstances of the crime
Following his appointment, Morgun conspired with other representatives of the Russian Federation’s occupation administration to carry out a coordinated and large-scale misappropriation of private property belonging to Ukrainian citizens.
To this end, the occupying authorities adopted a series of illegal regulations, including a so-called law that allowed for the identification and designation as "ownerless" of residential properties belonging to Ukrainians who had left the city. Under this scheme, real estate was seized from its legal owners and transferred to so-called "municipal ownership" for subsequent occupation by a population loyal to the Russian Federation.
Morgun's role was to sign decisions designating real estate as "ownerless."
In total, between July 2024 and June 2025, he signed 39 decisions concerning the unlawful appropriation of 3,790 properties (residential premises and buildings), which was intended to create the appearance of legitimacy for the actions of the occupying authorities.
Suspicion
Morgun's actions have been classified as a war crime—a violation of the laws and customs of war.
These actions constitute a gross violation of the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War and the Regulations concerning the Laws and Customs of War on Land. Furthermore, the large-scale appropriation of housing by the occupying authorities bears the hallmarks of a crime against humanity in the form of persecution, as defined by the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.
