---
title: "Extortion Defense"
url: "https://legal.ge/en/service/crim-criminal-law-en/extortion-defense-en"
field: "Criminal Law"
description: "Article 181 — extortion in Georgia: penalties from a fine up to nine years in prison. Experienced defence lawyer at every stage. Legal.ge."
reviewed: "2026-07-09"
updated: "2026-10-14"
publisher: "legal.ge"
---

# Extortion Defense

> Source: legal.ge, https://legal.ge/en/service/crim-criminal-law-en/extortion-defense-en

## 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.

The full text is available on legal.ge after signing in: https://legal.ge/en/service/crim-criminal-law-en/extortion-defense-en

### What punishment is provided for extortion in Georgia?

For the basic composition — a fine or imprisonment from two to four years. For qualified compositions the punishment is imprisonment from four to seven years, and in the most serious cases from six to nine years.

### How is extortion distinguished from a lawful demand?

The necessary element of extortion is a threat connected with the demand — a threat of violence, of destruction or damage of property, of dissemination of defamatory information, or of spreading other information that may substantially harm rights. A demand without such a threat is not punishable under this article.

### When is extortion punishable by six to nine years?

When it is committed by an organized group, or by a person who has been convicted two or more times for unlawful appropriation of another's property or for extortion.

### What significance does a lawyer have in an extortion case?

A lawyer verifies the fact and the content of the threat, the legality of the evidence, and the correctness of the classification against the individual parts. These are precisely the questions that often change the outcome of the case.