The National Assembly unanimously approved a criminal code amendment that would abolish the death penalty for eight criminal offenses, according to the state-run Vietnam News Agency.
Bribery, embezzlement, producing and trading counterfeit medications, illegally transporting narcotics, espionage, “the crime of destroying peace and causing aggressive war,” as well as sabotage and attempts to topple the government will no longer be the death penalty.
According to the news agency, life in prison will now be the maximum sentence for these crimes.
According to the report, those who were previously sentenced to death for capital offenses but have not yet been executed will receive a life sentence commute.
According to the report, the death penalty will apply to ten additional criminal offenses that are prohibited in Vietnam, including child molestation, treason, terrorism, and murder.
The most contentious topic at the National Assembly debate over the proposed criminal code amendment was last month’s one regarding the elimination of the death sentence for drug trafficking.
The harm caused by drug transport, whether it’s a few grams or a few tons, is enormous, according to one legislator, while removing the death sentence for drugs would send the wrong message at a time when the number of drug cases were rising across the nation.
Vietnam’s death row death penalty data is a state secret, and it is not known how many people are currently there.
Source: Aljazeera
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