Truong My Lan likely spared death penalty after Vietnam ends the punishment for eight crimes
The legal reforms in Vietnam ended the death penalty for eight crimes, including trying to overthrow the government, damaging state infrastructure, making and selling fake medicine, starting wars, spying, drug trafficking, embezzlement, and taking bribes.
State media reported that Vietnamese lawmakers passed the reforms on Wednesday, local time.
Minister of Public Security, Luong Tam Quang, said "the current structure of capital punishment was problematic and, in some cases, misaligned with evolving socio-economic conditions and the realities of crime prevention."
Truong My Lan was sentenced to death for her involvement in Vietnam's largest financial fraud case, which was said to have caused $US27 billion ($41 billion) in total damages.
The 67-year-old chair of the real estate company Van Thinh Phat was facing execution for her involvement in fraud amounting to $12.5 billion ($19b) — nearly 3 per cent of the country's 2022 GDP.
However she will now be "eligible for the exemption for the death penalty" according to the new rules, her lawyer Phan Minh Hoang told The Associated Press.
"We are still waiting for the official instructions of implementing the law amendment for next steps in her case," Mr Hoang said.
The new rules also say that anyone already sentenced to death for these crimes but not yet executed by July 1 will have their sentence changed to life in prison after a final decision by Vietnam's highest court.
After the legal changes, the maximum punishment for Lan's crimes will be life imprisonment without parole. Hoang said that they were continuing to work on repaying the damages to get her sentence further reduced.
The law change will likely impact other ongoing trials such as the one that started earlier this week involving the real estate and infrastructure development company Phuc Son Group, whose chairman, Nguyen Van Hau, is accused of paying over $US5 million ($7.65m) in bribes to win contracts for major infrastructure projects across three provinces.
Ten offences will remain subject to capital punishment in Vietnam, including murder, treason, terrorism and the sexual abuse of children, according to the report. Drug trafficking will also remain a capital offence.
Capital punishment data is a state secret in Vietnam and it is not known how many people are currently on death row in the country. Lethal injection is the only method of execution after firing squads were abolished in 2011.
ABC/wires
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