The criminal threat was classified in the penal code in chapter XXIII as a crime against freedom. In the light of art. 190 of the Criminal Code, "who threatens another person with committing a crime to the detriment of his or her loved one, if the threat raises a justified fear in the threatened person that it will be fulfilled, is subject to a fine, the penalty of restriction of liberty or the penalty of deprivation of liberty for up to 2 years". Prosecution of this crime takes place at the request of the injured party.

  The subject of protection in determining the type of offense under Art. 190 § 1 of the Criminal Code is the freedom of a man from the fear of committing a crime to his detriment or to the person closest to him. This provision therefore protects the individual's sense of security.

  A punishable threat differs from an unlawful threat included in art. 115 § 12 of the Criminal Code in that its content is only the commission of a crime to the detriment of the injured party or to the detriment of the person closest to him. Therefore, it does not constitute a threat of criminal threat to cause criminal proceedings, unless it is a false accusation, or the threat of spreading messages that derogate the honor of the person at risk or the person closest to him, unless it is about criminal slander, referred to in art. 212 § 1 or 2 of the Penal Code. Nor is it a punishable threat of committing an offense or civil tort. Considering the subject of protection, this limitation may raise doubts due to far-reaching formalism. To accept a criminal threat, the threat of committing any crime to the detriment of the recipient of the threat or a person closest to him is sufficient.

  To commit this crime it is necessary to have the effect of raising in threatened reasoned fear that the threat will be fulfilled. However, the subjective fear of the victim and his belief that the threat is likely to be carried out must be justified, i.e. that both the circumstances in which the threat was expressed and the threatening person impress the objective, normally sensitive observer that the threat was expressed seriously and provides grounds for legitimate concerns.

[Legal status as at April 2020]