What the Threat Norm Defines
Article 151 of the Criminal Code declares threat an independent crime — even without consequence, where the threat aroused in the addressee a well-founded fear of its realization. The composition requires two elements: a threat to kill, injure health or destroy property, and the well-founded fear caused by that threat. Verbal form does not remove criminality: a threat may be uttered orally, in writing or through conduct, if perceived as a threat.
The Criterion of Well-Founded Fear
The case's fate depends on well-founded fear — and it rests on objective assessment: the circumstances in which the threat sounded, the threatened person's situation, the form of the threat and the real possibility of its realization. Perception is subjective, but its reasonableness is built by the court within objective bounds: intonation, prior conduct, display of a weapon or other means, the addressee's vulnerability. The defense redistributes precisely these elements: showing that the words uttered did not constitute a threat, or that their perception could not arouse well-founded fear.
Penalty and Aggravating Features
Under the basic composition a threat is punished by a fine or community service from one hundred twenty to one hundred eighty hours, or corrective labour for up to one year, or house arrest from six months to two years, or imprisonment for up to one year, with restriction of weapons-related rights or without. The second part establishes aggravating features: by a group; repeatedly; with prior knowledge against a pregnant woman, a helpless person, a person with disabilities or a minor; against a family member — the penalty is a fine or community service from one hundred seventy to two hundred hours, or corrective labour for up to two years, or imprisonment for up to three years. Threat against a family member is singled out as a separate aggravating feature — this directly affects the qualification.
Boundaries of Qualification and Defense
A threat charge is often bounded by other compositions: a threat as a constituent element of a violent crime no longer forms a separate offense; some other norms contain their own threat element. The defense's task is to show whether the threat is subsumed by another charge or did not exist at all. The supporting evidence is: fixation of the threat — messages, recordings, witnesses; the addressee's reaction and circumstances; the accused's real capacity to realize the threat.
Fixation of the Threat and the Evidence
The evidentiary regime in a threat case is special: the threat is often one party's word against the other's, and independent fixation becomes decisive. These are witnesses who describe the moment of the threat down to the intonation; written messages and recordings reflecting not only the text but the context; the conduct of both parties before and after the threat. For the prosecution, proving well-founded fear means arranging this material into a single picture; for the defense, destroying at least one detail in that picture. A threat against a family member is a separate aggravating feature, and to establish it the prosecution must also prove the family relationship — including legal representation, marriage, unregistered partnership or a joint household. The form of the perceived threat — oral, written or by conduct — is decisive not in the description but in the perception: what the addressee understood and whether it could reasonably be followed by a founded sense of fear.
The threat norm protects both sides: the accused — from groundless charges, and the victim — from real danger. The accused's defense is built on showing that the words uttered were not a threat or that their perception could not arouse well-founded fear; the victim's protection — on fixing the threat and proving its reality. In both cases the court applies objective criteria, and for both sides timely legal reaction is decisive: for the accused from the moment of detention, for the victim from the moment the threat sounded.
Frequently Asked Questions
When is a threat a crime?
When directed against life, health or property and arousing in the addressee a well-founded fear of realization. No consequence is required.
What penalty is provided?
From a fine to one year's imprisonment; with aggravating features — up to three years. The types include community service, corrective labour and house arrest.
How is well-founded fear proven?
By objective circumstances: the form and intonation of the threat, prior conduct, the addressee's situation, the real possibility of realization.
Can one be liable for words perceived as a threat?
Yes, if they aroused well-founded fear — the form is not decisive. But without a clearly expressed threat the charge does not stand.
How We Help on Legal.ge
On Legal.ge we assist both in defending threat charges and in protecting victims of threats: we assess the evidentiary base, build the position on the existence or absence of well-founded fear, prepare the appeal and represent you in court. Contact us — in such cases evidence dissipates over time.