Vietnam will remove the death penalty for eight specific offences starting next month, including embezzlement and activities aimed at overthrowing the government, according to the country’s parliament.
This legislative change spares the life of a prominent tycoon involved in a $12 billion fraud case. The National Assembly, Vietnam’s lawmaking body, unanimously ratified the amendment to the Criminal Code earlier on Wednesday to abolish capital punishment for these crimes.
Other offences that will no longer carry the death penalty include vandalising state property, manufacturing fake medicine, jeopardising peace, triggering invasive wars, espionage, and carrying drugs, the official Vietnam News Agency reported.
The maximum sentence for these crimes will now be life imprisonment.
This change directly impacts real estate tycoon Truong My Lan, the chairwoman of real estate developer Van Thinh Phat Holdings Group, who was sentenced to death last year on embezzlement charges.
Those who were sentenced to death for these offences before 1 July but have not yet been executed will have their sentences commuted to life imprisonment, the report added. Lawyer Ngo Anh Tuan, who is not part of Lan’s defence team, said:
According to the amendment of the Criminal Code, her sentence will automatically be reduced to life imprisonment.
Ten offences will remain subject to capital punishment in Vietnam, including murder, treason, terrorism, the sexual abuse of children, and drug trafficking, according to the report. Capital punishment data is classified as a state secret in Vietnam, and the number of individuals currently on death row is not publicly known.
Lethal injection stands as the sole method of execution after firing squads were abolished in 2011.
