The Chornomorsk City Court (Odesa oblast) sentenced a local fisherman to two years of probation, finding him guilty of threatening to physically assault a journalist with the news website Alternatyva.org.
The ruling was passed on 20 February 2026, reports Sudovyi Reporter.
According to court documents, the journalist arrived in Mykolaivka village in October 2024, having heard of potential illegal fishing on the territory rented by the fishers’ cooperative Zorya 2. He entered a makeshift fishing hut on the shore of the estuary, introduced himself, showed his journalist badge and started filming. This sparked a conflict, with one of the fishermen saying telling the journalist, “What? Heras says hi… The boys will come and rip your ass.”
In court, the journalist said that the defendant swore obscenely at him and shouted that one Harazd, a man of local authority, would come and deal with him in way he would not enjoy. He viewed the threat as real, because people had reported being beaten by Harazd to the police in the past.
The defendant pleaded not guilty. He claimed that the fishermen were working legally and the journalist had baselessly accused them of being poachers. He did not see his words as threats.
The court found that the journalist had been easily identifiable as a reporter: he wore a “PRESS” vest and a badge around his neck, and introduced himself accordingly. Eyewitnesses confirmed they had seen the inscruption on the vest and the camera. The defendant also admitted he knew who the plaintiff was, as he had seen the journalist’s videos on YouTube before.
However, the court also ruled that the reporter’s actions, namely alleging that someone was committing a crime while still collecting information, was potentially in violation of journalism ethics. The court also ruled that the fishermen’s makeshift building was private property and thus legally protected from trespassing despite having no fence around it.
Still, the court’s opinion was that violations on the journalist’s part did not cancel out the fact that he was engaged in legal reporting and did not justify the crime committed against him. The court saw no grounds for self-defense on the part of the defendant.
The latter was sentenced to two years on probation and has to pay the plaintiff 10,000 hryvnias in moral damages and 50,000 hryvnias in compensation of the attorney’s fee, and to pay 30,000 hryvnias to the state for an expert’s services. The ruling can be appealed.
Alternatyva.org reports that the journalist in question was the news website’s chief editor Roman Varshanidze. He said that his lawyer was drafting an appeal and that since the defendant had pleaded not guilty, the penalty should be real and not mere probation.
Previously, on 23 September 2024, the Illichivsk District Court of Odesa oblast sentenced Russian national V. L., born in Zhovtyi Yar (Odesa oblast), to one year in prison with a probation period for threatening to break the camera of journalist Roman Varshanidze while the journalist was filming the man’s arrest after a traffic accident.