What the Article on Influence Covers
Article 372 of the Criminal Code of Georgia protects the interest of receiving truthful information in a case and addresses influence on participants of proceedings — a person to be interrogated, a witness, a victim, an expert or an interpreter. The article describes this act in two main forms: addressing or persuading — influence by mere words; and bribery or coercion — influence achieved by offering a property benefit or by threats. Such charges are rare but grave: the article spans the whole range of penalties from a fine to nine years of imprisonment, and it often appears alongside another case, as an additional episode.
It is important to distinguish who the persons protected by the article are: the person to be interrogated, the witness, the victim, the expert and the interpreter. The prosecution must rest on influence exerted on a person from exactly this list — influence on other participants is regulated by other norms of the Code.
Addressing or Persuading: The Penalty Frame
Under the first part of the article, addressing a person to be interrogated, a witness, a victim, an expert or an interpreter, or persuading such a person — for the purpose of giving false information, giving false testimony, giving a false conclusion, refusing to provide information or testimony, translating incorrectly, or altering information provided or a conclusion given — is punished by:
- a fine;
- community service for a term of one hundred eighty to two hundred forty hours;
- corrective labor for a term of up to two years;
- or imprisonment for a term of one to three years.
This composition is lighter, yet it still carries a real penalty. The central question here is the purpose: the prosecution must prove that the address was made precisely in order to obtain false information or a refusal, and not — for example — in the form of legitimate consultation or assistance.
Bribery and Coercion: Three to Six Years
The second part is graver: bribing or coercing the same persons — for the same purposes — is punished by a fine or imprisonment for a term of three to six years. The law describes precisely what bribery and coercion mean for this article: offering any kind of property benefit to the person or the person’s close relative, or a threat of murder, violence, damage to or destruction of property, or another threat. This means that the aggravated form is defined by the method of the act — money, a promise or fear.
Violence and Forms Dangerous to Life
Under the third part, an act provided for by the second part, committed by violence, is punished by imprisonment for a term of five to eight years. Under the fourth part, the same act that is dangerous to life or health is punished by imprisonment for a term of six to nine years. The law also provides that for acts under this article a legal person is punished by a fine, or deprivation of the right to carry out an activity and a fine.
How the Defense Approaches Cases Under This Article
The defense’s first question is the provability of the purpose: the influence must be aimed at false information — if the conversation concerned explaining the person’s rights, consultation or a legitimate request, the composition is not complete. The second is the method: bribery and coercion must be established in the forms described by the law; a conversation or a promise that contains no property benefit does not belong to the second part. The third is the reality of the threat: a threat must be perceived as serious, and this is a subjective assessment that must be confirmed by evidence. The fourth is the boundary of violence and danger to life: these concepts rest on medical and factual assessment, and their overbroad interpretation is a subject of defense. Finally, the procedural rules — who and how records these episodes — are governed by other norms of the Code, and violations are instruments of the defense.
The forms of proof deserve separate mention. In such cases the central evidence is often an audio or video recording, a witness’s testimony, or written communication. Each such item must be examined from several directions: who obtained it and how, whether it describes the real event, whether the context is complete rather than altered, and whether the purpose reflected in it corresponds to the wording of the article. The sequence of time also matters: when the conversation took place and when it surfaced in the prosecution’s materials — confusion over dates is often the weakest point of such episodes.
How Legal.ge Can Help
On the Legal.ge platform you can select a criminal defense lawyer handling cases of influence on participants of proceedings. The lawyer will re-examine the prosecution’s version, assess the proof of the purpose and the method, protect your rights at every stage of the investigation and present your position in court. Fill in a request on the site — a lawyer will contact you and assess your case.