What Article 181 of the Criminal Code of Georgia regulates
Extortion is an offence provided for by Article 181 of the Criminal Code of Georgia, directed against property relations and at the same time affecting a person's mental freedom. Under the law, extortion means the demand for the transfer of another person's property or property right, or for property benefit, coupled with the threat of the use of violence against the victim or his or her close relative, the destruction or damage of their property, the dissemination of defamatory information about them, or the threat of disseminating other information that may substantially harm their rights.
If a charge under this article concerns your family, or if you are the victim of extortion, it is important to know exactly what conduct counts as extortion, how it is classified into separate parts, and what punishments are provided. This page describes all three parts of the article in detail, together with the directions in which a defence lawyer works on such cases.
The essence of the offence — the demand and the threat
The composition of extortion consists of two necessary elements. The first is the demand — a demand addressed to the victim for the transfer of another person's property or a property right, or for property benefit. The second is the threat that accompanies this demand: the threat of the use of violence against the victim or his or her close relative, the threat of destroying or damaging their property, the threat of disseminating defamatory information, or the threat of spreading other information that may substantially harm their rights.
The difference between a simple property demand (for example, a demand for the performance of a civil-law obligation) and extortion lies precisely in this element of threat. A demand that is well-founded and is not accompanied by the prohibited forms of coercion is not punishable under this article. In court practice this boundary is frequently the subject of dispute, and a lawyer's correct position changes the outcome of the case.
Punishment for the basic composition — the first part
Extortion provided for by the first part of the article is punishable by a fine or by imprisonment for a term of two to four years. The case therefore already begins within the framework of a rather strict punishment, which underlines the public danger of this offence.