The National Assembly of Vietnam has adopted amendments to the criminal law, which abolished the death penalty for a number of serious crimes. This is reported by UNN referring to Aljazeera.
Details
According to state media, the death penalty has been replaced by life imprisonment for eight categories of offenses, including espionage, attempts to overthrow the government, bribery, drug trafficking and the production of counterfeit medicines.
The Vietnam News Agency reported that the amendments to the Criminal Code were adopted unanimously.
Whether it's a few grams or a few tons, the harm from drug trafficking is enormous
The National Assembly acknowledged that the abolition of the death penalty for drug trafficking caused the most controversy. Another deputy warned that such a decision could have negative consequences.
Abolishing the death penalty for drugs would send the wrong signal at a time when drug-related cases are on the rise in the country
The adopted changes stipulate that from July 1, death sentences for the listed crimes will be replaced by life imprisonment. This also applies to those sentenced to death who have not yet been executed.
At the same time, Vietnamese law leaves the death penalty for 10 other serious crimes. Among them are murder, treason, terrorism and sexual violence against children.
Official statistics on the number of prisoners on death row are not published - this is considered a state secret.