Georgia

Hate Crimes

The following overview of hate crimes legislation is based on information submitted directly to the ODIHR by Georgia during the course of 2004-2005. While, in some instances, the wording of the legislation may appear unclear, it has not been changed from its original form.

On the basis of this structure, ODIHR enourages pS to submit relevant information to fill in any gaps.

Legislation is constantly updated, and therefore the provisions cited are subject to change. The term racist is illustrative and does not exclude other bias types. The use of "Article", "Section", or § refers to parts of the respective Criminal Code.

International crimes [1]	Article 411 penalises the premeditated violation of international humanitarian law based on apartheid or racial discrimination. Article 407 punishes acts of genocide.
Incitement to hatred / Dissemination of racist ideas [2]
Holocaust denial [3]
Personal violence	Criminal Code of 1999 defines some common offences - but with a racist nature - as specific offences: Article 109 (murder motivated by racial, religious, national or ethnic intolerance); Article 117 (infliction of serious injuries motivated by racial, religious, national or ethnic intolerance); Article 126 (torture motivated by racial, religious, national or ethnic intolerance).
Destruction of property	Article 258 prohibits desecration of graves and other acts committed on the grounds of racial, religious, national or ethnic intolerance.
Civil rights violations	Article 142 penalises the infringement of an individual’s right to equality on the grounds mentioned in Article 14 of the Constitution.^.It requires for its application that the infringement of the right to equality result in a substantial violation of human rights.
Racist organizations [4]
Racist cyber-crime
Aggravating circumstances
Bias types [5]	Race, religion, national origin, ethnicity.

[1] Relevant international crimes include genocide, apartheid, slavery and persecution.

[2] Includes (public) incitement to racial discrimination, violence or hatred; (public) dissemination of ideas based on racial superiority or hatred; (public) insults and threats.

[3] Includes public denial or gross trivialization of international crimes, especially genocide/the Holocaust.

[4] Includes creation, support, participation.

[5] Includes bias types referred to in definitions of crimes and as aggravating factors, but excludes crimes based on denying equality of citizens, which tend to encompass broader grounds for discrimination.

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