A Lviv oblast court sentenced a man to one year in prison for threatening a journalist with the media outlet Vybir – Pravozakhysnyk Lvivshchyny, the Prosecutor General’s Office reported in a Facebook post.
The man was convicted under the article “obstructing legal reporting by a journalist and threatening them with violence” (Part 2 of Article 171 and Part 1 of Article 345-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).
The prosecutors proved in court that the defendant (the brother of a patrol police officer) threatened the journalist while the latter was performing an editorial assignment in 2021. The journalist was gathering information on police compliance with the law while patrolling the Drohobych district. The convict demanded that he cease his work, openly threatening to beat and murder the journalist to intimidate him.
In addition to imprisonment, the court, based on the prosecution’s arguments, fined the defendant 3,400 UAH and recovered 55,000 UAH of material damage and 200,000 UAH of moral damage in favor of the victim.
In May 2025, Serhiy Horbatenko, a war reporter with the Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty project Donbas.Realii, faced violent threats and harassment on pro-Russian Telegram channels in Donetsk oblast.
