The Essence of the Perjury Offence
Article 370 of the Criminal Code of Georgia treats obstruction of justice as a distinct crime, expressed through the provision of false information or false testimony by an interrogated person, a witness or a victim, the giving of a false conclusion or false testimony by an expert, the intentional or negligent failure of an expert to protect the object of expert examination, or the intentional incorrect translation by an interpreter — during investigation or in court. The norm gathers within one frame the conduct of various participants in the process, because each of them is a pillar of the reliability of justice: the word of a witness, the conclusion of an expert and the translation of an interpreter are among the grounds on which decisions are taken.
The offence manifests at both procedural stages — in investigation and in court — and a charge under this article requires precise establishment of what information was false, who provided it and how the act affected the outcome of the case. Defence argumentation unfolds precisely on these questions, because the boundary between a lie and an error of perception is often a matter of interpretation, and the burden of proving deliberate falsehood rests on the prosecution. The procedural role matters as well: the legal position of an interrogated person, a witness, an expert and an interpreter differs, and the list of criminalized conduct for each role is distinct — which the framing of the charge must reflect exactly.