Tornike Chikovani, criminal lawyer in Tbilisi, Georgia

Hate crime, discrimination & persecution

Hate Crime, Discrimination & Persecution

Defence and victim representation where violence, threats, persecution or another alleged offence includes an intolerance or discriminatory motive.

English legal guideTbilisi · Georgia-wide

Short answer

An alleged discriminatory motive is a separate evidential question that must be connected to the underlying conduct through words, selection, context, pattern or other reliable proof.

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Start with your actual position

Analyse the act and alleged motive separately

Defence and victim representation where violence, threats, persecution or another alleged offence includes an intolerance or discriminatory motive.

Violence, threats, harassment or property damage may be reported together with an intolerance allegation. Preserve exact language, timing, audience, prior interactions, victim selection and alternative context without minimising either safety or evidential standards.

Test conduct, motive, context and impact

Separate the underlying offence from the alleged motive

Preserve words, symbols, communications and surrounding context

Protect vulnerable victims and the presumption of innocence

Avoid assumptions based solely on association or public controversy

Georgian Criminal Code — explained

Underlying offences and motive-related evidence

Article 151

Threat

Requires examination of the alleged threat and whether it produced a reasonable fear that it would be carried out.

Read full guide →Article 156

Persecution

May be relevant to persecution because of speech, opinion, conscience, confession, faith, creed or protected activities; violence, threat, official abuse or substantial damage may affect the applicable part.

Read full guide →Article 53¹

Aggravating factors for punishment

A discriminatory or intolerance motive may aggravate an underlying offence; the specific protected ground, words, context and proven motive must be assessed rather than presumed.

Read full guide →

Complete topic directory

Choose the violence, threat or persecution issue

Hate-Motivated Violence and Threats

Hate-Motivated Violence and Threats: Article 151 (Threat) analysis, focusing on separating the underlying offence from the alleged motive under Georgian law.

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