Article 1. The Criminal Code of Georgia ("saqartvelos sakanonmdeblo macne"1) No. 41(48), 1999) shall be amended as follows:

5. Article 408 shall be drafted as follows:
”Article 408. Crimes against Humanity
Crime against humanity means any of the following acts when committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population, expressed in murder, massive extermination, serious injury to body or health, deportation, forced confinement, torture, rape, sexual slavery, enforced prostitution, forced pregnancy, enforced sterilization, persecution against any identifiable group on political, racial, national, ethnic, cultural, religious, gender or other grounds, the crime of apartheid, other inhumane acts of a similar character intentionally causing great suffering, or serious injury to body or to mental or physical health,
Shall be punishable by imprisonment for the period from eight to twenty years or life imprisonment.

Article 40 – Types of sentences

1. Types of sentences are as follows:

h) life imprisonment;

Article 51 – Life imprisonment

1. Life imprisonment may be imposed only for particularly serious crimes.

2. Life imprisonment shall not be imposed on persons who have attained the 60 years of age by the time the judgment is delivered.

Article 56 – Imposing a sentence for an inchoate crime

4. Life imprisonment may not be imposed for the preparation or attempt of a crime.

Article 404 – Planning, preparation, commencement or execution of an act of aggression

1. The planning or preparation of an act of aggression, –

shall be punished by imprisonment for a term of seven to fifteen years.

2. The commencement or execution of an act of progression, –

shall be punished by imprisonment for a term of fifteen to twenty years or by life imprisonment.

Note:

1. For the act provided for by this article, a person who, due to his/her position, is able to exercise efficient control or management over the state political or military actions, shall incur criminal liability.

2. For the purposes of this Chapter, an ‘act of aggression’ shall mean the use of the armed forces of the State against another state’s sovereignty, territorial integrity or political independence, or in any other manner, which contradicts the Charter of the United Nations.

3. A person shall incur criminal liability for planning, preparation, commencement or execution of such an act of aggression which, in its nature, gravity and extent, clearly violates the Charter of the United Nations.
 

Article 405 – Calling for planning, preparation, commencement or execution of an act of aggression

1. Calling for planning, preparation, commencement or execution of an act of aggression, –

shall be punished by a fine or imprisonment for up to three years.

2. The same act committed using mass media or by a public political official, –

shall be punished by a fine or imprisonment for a term of two to five years, with deprivation of the right to carry out activities for up to three years.

Article 408 – Crime against Humanity

Crime against humanity, i.e. any act committed in the form of a large-scale or systematic assaults on civilian population or persons, manifested in murder, mass extermination, serious health injury, deportation, illegal imprisonment, torture, sexual assault, sexual slavery, coercion of prostitution, forced pregnancy and sterilisation, persecution of a group of persons based on political, racial, national, ethnic, cultural, religious, sexual and other signs, apartheid and other inhuman treatment, which substantially impair the physical and/or mental condition of a person, –

shall be punished by imprisonment for a term of twelve to twenty years or by life imprisonment.

Article 411 – Intentional breach of the provisions of the international humanitarian law during armed conflicts

2. Intentional breach of the provisions of the international humanitarian law during international or domestic armed conflicts against the persons who do not participate in military actions or who do not hold instruments of defence as well as against the wounded, the sick, medical personnel and the clergy, sanitary units and vehicles, prisoners of war, civilians, civilian population present in the occupied territory or in the area of military actions, refugees, apatrides, other persons who are under protection during military actions, in particular:

a) murder;
b) torture or other inhuman treatment, including medical experiments;
c) intentional infliction of serious suffering or injury that endangers a person’s physical or mental state;
d) coercion of citizens of the adversary party, prisoners of war or other persons under protection into serving in the armed forces of the opposing party, and/or participate in the military actions against their own country, regardless of whether or not they served the party to the armed conflict before the commencement of the conflict;
e) deprivation of the right to fair tries from prisoners of war, or citizens of the adversary party or other persons who are under protection;
f) deportation or other unlawful expulsion or imprisonment of persons who are under protection;
g) taking a hostage;
h) arbitrary and large-scale destruction or appropriation of property not caused by military expediency, –

shall be punished by imprisonment for a term of fifteen to twenty years or by life imprisonment.

Article 285^1 – Revision of a sentence imposed as life imprisonment

1. The life imprisonment of a convicted person may be replaced with community service or house arrest if he/she has actually served 15 years of the imprisonment, successfully completed a programme for the preparation for release of persons sentenced to life imprisonment, approved by the Minister of Justice of Georgia, and if the court considers that it is no longer required that the convicted person continue serving this sentence.

2. The life imprisonment of a convicted person may be replaced with house arrest for at least 5 and not more than 10 years, and with community service for the same term, according to the calculation under Article 62(3) of the Criminal Code of Georgia.

3. A court may release a convicted person on parole from further serving the sentence if life imprisonment has been imposed on him/her as a sentence and he/she has actually served 20 years of the imprisonment and successfully completed a programme for the preparation for release of persons sentenced to life imprisonment, approved by the Minister of Justice of Georgia.

4. A convicted person may be released from serving life imprisonment for at least 2 and not more than 7 probation periods.

5. A court shall deliver the decision provided for by this article on the basis of the summary report of the programme for the preparation for release of persons sentenced to life imprisonment, taking account of the nature of the crime, the way in which a convicted person behaved during his/her service of the sentence, the fact of commission of a crime by him/her in the past, any previous criminal conviction, the risk of repeated commission of crime, the family circumstances, and the personality of the convicted person.

6. If a court dismisses a motion on the issue provided for by this article, the motion on the same issue may be re-considered only one year later.

7. A court shall consider the issue of replacing life imprisonment of a convicted person with community service or house arrest and releasing the convicted person from further serving the sentence by an oral hearing. Participation of the Special Penitentiary Service in the hearing shall be mandatory.