Seoul Gazette - 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.

D.Choi--SG