nam 22 uu 4500 10.59704/ad820ef9a5564bfc DE-Verfassungsblog cr||||| 260408s2026||||xx#|||||o|||| ||| 0|eng|| 10.59704/ad820ef9a5564bfc doi eng 342 23 Begadze, Mariam Author aut Criminalization without Harm - Georgia’s Foreign Agent Law 3.0 Exposes the Structural Gaps of Criminal Law Theory and Article 7 ECHR Begadze, Mariam Verfassungsblog 2026-04-08 Text txt rdacontent Computermedien c rdamedia Online-Ressource cr rdacarrier On March 4, 2026, the Georgian Parliament passed yet another wave of anti-democratic changes to the Law on Grants and the Criminal Code. The law now criminalizes political expression if individuals or civil society organizations receive foreign support without prior government authorization. Beyond clear violations of freedom of expression and association, the Georgian case reveals a structural gap in criminal law theory and practice – the lack of substantive limits on criminalization. At the same time, the Georgian case shows that this need not be so: at least two concrete rules against criminalization emerge from the Georgian case. CC BY-SA 4.0 Art. 18 ECHR Art. 7 ECHR Criminal Law Criminal Legal Theory ECHR European Convention of Human Rights Europäische Menschenrechtskonvention (1950 November 4) Foreign Agents Law Georgia Georgien Strafrechtstheorie legal theory (DE-588)4015727-1 gnd Europäische Menschenrechtskonvention (1950 November 4) (DE-588)4022406-5 gnd Georgien (DE-588)4133444-9 gnd Strafrechtstheorie Papuashvili, Ana Author aut Max Steinbeis Verfassungsblog gGmbH Verfassungsblog 2366-7044 https://verfassungsblog.de/georgia-criminalization/ raw object