The Rivne City Court has put Vadym Smolinskyi from Volyn oblast on probation for two years, convicting him of death threats and violent threats to journalist Vlad Isayev.
The ruling was passed on 19 May 2026, reports Hanna Kalaur, the regional Institute of Mass Information representative.
In July 2023, Isayev found a funeral wreath signed “In loving memory of Isayev from grateful readers” near his front door.
Shortly before the incident, on 14 June 2024, his car had been set on fire, which Isayev assumed to be related to his reporting.
The investigators found that Vadym Smolinskyi was in Rivne late on 2 July 2023. Acting upon prior conspiracy with a group of unidentified persons, he was aware that Vlad Isayev was a journalist. Smolinskyi signed the wreath’s ribbon with the purpose of threatening the journalist.
Later, on 3 July 2023 at night, Smolinsky handed the wreath over to an unidentified person who delivered it to the journalist’s home.
Vlad Isayev said in court that he had perceived this as a real threat and believed the incident to have been triggered by his reporting.
Smolinskyi pleaded guilty, did not object to the facts revealed by the investigation, and said he felt remorseful.
Isayev, on his part, said he had nothing against Smolinskyi and asked the court to be lenient.
Ultimately, the Rivne City Court found Vadym Smolinskyi guilty of making death threats to a journalist as part of a group upon prior conspiracy and put him on probation for two years, ordering him to show up for regular checkups with the probation authority, notify them if his home address or workplace changes, not to leave Ukraine unauthorised, and to participate in the probation program events.
Smolinskyi was ordered to pay 62,800 hryvnias in court fees (for the examinations).
The ruling can be appealed in the Rivne Court of Appeal.
As IMI reported, in March 2025, unknown persons splashed a journalist’s car with a green dye. The police opened a probe into obstruction of legal reporting (Article 171 of the Criminal Code). IMI’s sources in the police said that the journalist in question was Vladyslav Isayev, which he later confirmed in a comment to IMI.
