Rivne police have opened an investigation into the death threats to Chetverta Vlada chief editor Volodymyr Torbich, the Rivne oblast police communications department announced on 2 October.
According to the police, their officers came across a news story about a likely criminal offence against a journalist while monitoring open sources. The piece described two voice messages containing violent threats, which had been sent to Chetverta Vlada‘s official Facebook page on 29 September.
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“According to the reports, following the release of a news story about a drug trafficking trial, a man warned that he would use physical force, since members of his family were implicated in that case,” the police said.
They have launched a pre-trial investigation under Part 1, Article 345-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (threats or violence against a journalist). The penalty under this article includes up to two years of community labour, up to three years of probation, or restriction or deprivation of liberty.
On 1 October 2026, Chetverta Vlada reported that their chief editor Volodymyr Torbich had received death threats following the release of a news piece about a drug trafficking case. Oleksandr Dynovskyi, ex-husband of Liana Dynovska, director of the Rivne Social Services Centre, and the father of her children, who are implicated in the case, sent two voice messages threatening to kill Torbich and demanding that the outlet not mention his children in their news.
The team regards these messages as threats to their chief editor in connection with his reporting.
