Tornike Chikovani, criminal lawyer in Tbilisi, Georgia
Criminal offences

Extortion

Extortion allegations in Georgia: preserve the exact demand and threat, communications, recipient, purpose, property interest and evidence linking each participant.

English legal guideTbilisi · Georgia-wide
Offence analysis

What the accusation must actually prove

Hard bargaining, debt collection and extortion are different; the alleged demand must be connected to a prohibited threat or coercive means.

Decisive factual question

What exactly was demanded, by whom, through which words or conduct, and did the accused have a lawful claim?

The prosecution must prove every required element beyond reasonable doubt; suspicion, association or an adverse outcome cannot fill an evidential gap.

Evidence specific to this allegation

Complete messages and calls, recordings, debt or contract documents, payment route, meeting evidence and witness context.

01

Conduct

Define the exact act attributed to each person, including time, place and role.

02

Mental element

Test knowledge, intent, purpose or negligence required by the potential provision.

03

Consequence and causation

Separate what happened from what the accused legally caused.

Criminal Code articles to check

Articles that may enter the qualification

Article 181

Extortion

Potentially relevant to a property demand accompanied by a qualifying threat; the demand, threat, purpose and communications should be examined together.

Read full Article 181 text on this page
Relevant Criminal Code wording

Read the relevant Criminal Code provisions

The panel below reproduces the available official English wording for convenient reading. Check the current Georgian text and the exact article part before relying on it, because later amendments may not yet appear in translation.

Article 181Extortion

1. Extortion, i.e. demanding another person to hand over property or title in property or the right to use property by threatening to use violence against the victim or the victim’s close relative or to destroy or damage their property or to make public the information that may damage their reputation or otherwise damage substantially their rights, –

shall be punished by a fine or by imprisonment for a term of two to four years.

2. The same act committed:

a) jointly by more than one person;

b) repeatedly;

c) for obtaining property in large quantities, –

shall be punished by imprisonment for a term of four to seven years.

3. The same act committed:

a) by an organised group;

b) by a person who has two or more previous convictions for unlawful appropriation or extortion of another person’s property, –

shall be punished by imprisonment for a term of six to nine years.

The consolidated official source is listed in the source section at the end of this guide.

Article 151Threat

1. A threat of killing, damaging health or destroying property, when a person threatened has started to have a reasonable sensation of fear that the threat will be carried out, –

shall be punished by a fine or community service for a term of 120 to 180 hours, or by corrective labour for a term of up to one year or house arrest for a term of six months to two years, or by imprisonment for a term of up to one year, with or without restriction of the rights regarding weapons.

2. The same act committed:

a) by a group of persons;

b) repeatedly;

c) premeditatedly by a perpetrator against a pregnant woman, a person in a helpless condition, a person with disabilities or a minor, –

d) against a family member, –

shall be punished by a fine or community service for a term of 170 to 200 hours, or by corrective labour for a term of up to two years and/or imprisonment for a term of up to three years, with or without restriction of the rights regarding weapons.

The consolidated official source is listed in the source section at the end of this guide.

First controlled step

Preserve the full conversation rather than selected screenshots and avoid further direct contact.

Sources & legislation

Primary sources for this guide

Before acting, compare this guide with the current Georgian text and the exact document served in the case. The official English translation may not include the latest amendment.

Criminal Procedure Code of GeorgiaOfficial consolidated Criminal Code — current text & PDFMinistry of Finance Investigation Service
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