Vietnam abolishes death penalty for spying, anti-state activities
The number of offences facing capital punishment will be almost halved from an original 18 to 10 from July, according to the penal code approved by the National Assembly, the official Bao Chinh Phu news portal reported.
According to the amended law, the crimes no longer punishable by death include attempting to overthrow the administration, sabotaging state facilities, production and trade of counterfeit medicine, illegal transportation of narcotics, sabotaging peace and waging war, espionage, property embezzlement and bribe-taking.
Convicts would instead be given the maximum sentence of life in prison.
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."
One of the reasons for the move given by Minister of Justice Nguyen Hai Ninh was that in most cases people sentenced to death for the above crimes were not actually executed.
"The abolishment of capital publishment for several crimes will also serve international cooperation work, especially when Vietnam is promoting closer relations on the basis of mutual trust," Ninh was reported as saying.
Vietnam has carried out death sentences by lethal injection since 2013 when it replaced execution by firing squad.
The number of executions has not been made public, but Amnesty International estimates more than 1,200 people were on death row in Vietnam by the end of 2023.
Under Vietnamese law, those sentenced to death for the above eight crimes before July 1 will have their sentences converted to life imprisonment by the chief judge of the Supreme People's Court.
© 2025 AFP
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
France 24
17 hours ago
- France 24
Vietnam tycoon will not face death penalty over $27 bn fraud: lawyer
Property developer Truong My Lan's lawyer Giang Hong Thanh told AFP that her death penalty "will be converted to life imprisonment... I informed Ms. Lan this morning, she is very happy." Vietnam on Wednesday abolished the death penalty for eight crimes including espionage, graft and attempting to overthrow the government, according to state media. Lan, 68, was convicted last year of swindling money from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) -- which prosecutors said she controlled -- and sentenced to death for fraud with damages totalling $27 billion -- equivalent to around six percent of the country's GDP. She appealed the verdict in a month-long trial, but in December the court in Ho Chi Minh City determined that there was "no basis" to reduce her sentence. But the court said Lan's sentence could be reduced to life imprisonment if she returned three quarters of the stolen assets. "If Ms Lan compensates for three quarters of the losses along with some other conditions, she will continue to be considered for a further reduction of her sentence," lawyer Thanh said Wednesday. Lan "is still actively cooperating with state agencies of Vietnam and her partners to find ways to deal with (her) assets and restructure SCB to come to a final solution to the case." Lan owned just five percent of shares in SCB on paper but courts concluded that she effectively controlled more than 90 percent through family, friends and staff. Tens of thousands of people who had invested their savings in the bank lost money, prompting rare protests in the communist nation. In a separate $17 billion money-laundering case, Lan had a life imprisonment sentence cut to 30 years on appeal in April. According to the amended penal code approved by the National Assembly Wednesday, the eight crimes no longer punishable by death include property embezzlement and bribe-taking. Under Vietnamese law, those sentenced to death for the eight crimes -- which also include spying and anti-state activities -- before July 1 will have their sentences converted to life imprisonment by the chief judge of the Suprem People's Court. 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." One of the reasons for the move given by Minister of Justice Nguyen Hai Ninh was that in most cases people sentenced to death for the above crimes were not actually executed. The number of executions has not been made public, but Amnesty International estimates more than 1,200 people were on death row in Vietnam by the end of 2024.
France 24
18 hours ago
- France 24
Vietnam abolishes death penalty for spying, anti-state activities
The number of offences facing capital punishment will be almost halved from an original 18 to 10 from July, according to the penal code approved by the National Assembly, the official Bao Chinh Phu news portal reported. According to the amended law, the crimes no longer punishable by death include attempting to overthrow the administration, sabotaging state facilities, production and trade of counterfeit medicine, illegal transportation of narcotics, sabotaging peace and waging war, espionage, property embezzlement and bribe-taking. Convicts would instead be given the maximum sentence of life in prison. 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." One of the reasons for the move given by Minister of Justice Nguyen Hai Ninh was that in most cases people sentenced to death for the above crimes were not actually executed. "The abolishment of capital publishment for several crimes will also serve international cooperation work, especially when Vietnam is promoting closer relations on the basis of mutual trust," Ninh was reported as saying. Vietnam has carried out death sentences by lethal injection since 2013 when it replaced execution by firing squad. The number of executions has not been made public, but Amnesty International estimates more than 1,200 people were on death row in Vietnam by the end of 2023. Under Vietnamese law, those sentenced to death for the above eight crimes before July 1 will have their sentences converted to life imprisonment by the chief judge of the Supreme People's Court. © 2025 AFP
France 24
2 days ago
- France 24
US Supreme Court lets Trump resume controversial deportations to third countries
A divided US Supreme Court paved the way on Monday for the Trump administration to resume deportations of undocumented migrants to countries that are not their own. The unsigned order from the conservative-dominated top court came in response to an emergency appeal by the Justice Department to lift a stay imposed by a lower court on so-called third country deportations. The Supreme Court did not provide an explanation for the decision and the three liberal justices dissented. The original case challenging the third country deportations will now be heard by an appeals court but the Supreme Court's move allows the removals to proceed for now. District Judge Brian Murphy had ordered a halt to third country deportations in April, saying migrants were not being given a "meaningful opportunity" to contest their expulsions. Murphy said they should get at least 15 days to challenge their deportation and provide evidence of whether they may be at risk of torture or death if expelled. The original case involves the deportation of eight men -- two from Myanmar, two from Cuba, a Vietnamese man, a Laotian, a Mexican and one from South Sudan -- who the US authorities said were convicted violent criminals. They were being flown to impoverished war-torn South Sudan when Murphy's order came down and have been held since at a US military base in Djibouti. The Trump administration has defended the third country deportations as necessary since the home nations of some of those who are targeted for removal often refuse to accept them. Justice Sonia Sotomayor, author of the dissent, accused the administration of "flagrantly unlawful conduct" that is "exposing thousands to the risk of torture or death." "The government has made clear in word and deed that it feels itself unconstrained by law, free to deport anyone anywhere without notice or an opportunity to be heard," Sotomayor said. - 'Fire up the deportation planes' - The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) welcomed the Supreme Court move as a "victory for the safety and security of the American people." "If these activists judges had their way, aliens who are so uniquely barbaric that their own countries won't take them back, including convicted murderers, child rapists and drug traffickers, would walk free on American streets," DHS said in a post on X. "DHS can now execute its lawful authority and remove illegal aliens to a country willing to accept them," it said. "Fire up the deportation planes." Donald Trump campaigned for president promising to expel millions of undocumented migrants from the US, and he has taken a number of actions aimed at speeding up deportations since returning to the White House in January. But his mass deportation efforts have been thwarted or stalled by numerous courts, including the Supreme Court, over concerns that migrant rights to due process are being ignored. Murphy, an appointee of Trump's Democratic predecessor Joe Biden, also temporarily blocked the government from expelling Asian migrants to Libya.
