I am threatened with murder or violence: what to do under Georgian law

What to do

1. Immediate danger: call the police at once. Qualification: a threat is a crime if the person threatens to take a life, harm health or destroy property, and you have a reasonable fear that the threat will be carried out (Criminal Code of Georgia (CC), Art. 151). Penalty: up to 1 year of imprisonment (CC Art. 151); if committed by a group, repeatedly, against a family member, a minor or a pregnant woman, up to 3 years (CC Art. 151). Reasonableness of the fear is supported by prior violence, the presence of a weapon, specifics (where, when, how) and persistence. Related: systematic unwanted calls or messages, stalking are harassment (a separate offence) (CC Art. 151¹); if the threat is used to demand money or property, it is extortion (CC Art. 181).
2. File a report: a report may be written, oral or recorded in another way (Criminal Procedure Code of Georgia (CPC), Art. 101); the applicant has the right to receive a written certificate of the report (CPC Art. 101); upon receiving the report, the investigator or prosecutor must start an investigation (CPC Art. 100). Attach screenshots with the date and number or account, do not delete the correspondence, keep audio or video recordings, name witnesses.
3. Procedural rights: the prosecutor grants the status of victim; if the prosecutor does not satisfy the application within 48 hours, file a single complaint to the superior prosecutor (CPC Art. 56). Appeal: refusal to start prosecution: a single complaint to the superior prosecutor, then to the district (city) court (CPC Art. 168).
4. Protection: as a preventive measure, the court may add a ban on meeting certain persons and visiting certain places (CPC Art. 199); ask the prosecutor to request this. If there is a serious danger to life, health or property, special protection measures for participants in proceedings apply (CPC Art. 67). In the family context: if a family member (including a former spouse) threatens you, the police may issue a restraining order for up to 1 month (Domestic Violence Law, Art. 12), followed by a court protective order.
5. Do not respond with threats and do not agree to meet “to talk”: counter-statements will be turned into a counter-complaint.
6. Where to apply: police (emergency call, district MIA division); prosecutor (victim status, complaints); district (city) court; in the family context, the police restraining order and the court protective order.
7. Evidence: screenshots or exports of correspondence with date and number, call records, witnesses, earlier reports, information about weapons.
8. Traps: the police reply “it's just words”: demand registration of the report and a certificate of filing; deleting correspondence or blocking the sender before the evidence is saved; responding with counter-threats; treating a demand for money under threat as a simple threat: it is extortion.

Be sure to check

• when a threat is a crime (life, health, property and a reasonable fear) and what the threatener faces
• how to report and preserve evidence, certificate of the report
• victim status and appeal against inaction or refusal
• protective measures: contact ban as a preventive measure, special protection, restraining orders in the family context