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Communist Vietnam's secret death penalty conveyor belt: How country trails only China and Iran for 'astonishing' number of executions

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Prisoners are dragged from their cells at 4am without warning to be given a lethal injection Vietnam's use of the death penalty has been thrust into the spotlight after a real estate tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to be executed in one of the biggest corruption cases in the country's history. Truong My Lan, a businesswoman who chaired a sprawling company that developed luxury apartments, hotels, offices and shopping malls, was arrested in 2022.

Partial disclosure of 34 inmates' executions reveal delays, clerical errors

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Documents obtained from the Ministry of Justice reveal details of executions carried out in recent years—including cases of lengthy delays and clerical errors—but fail to shed light on certain key steps of the execution process.

Under a freedom-of-information request, The Asahi Shimbun obtained documents concerning capital punishment imposed over the past five years and learned that 13 officials, including the minister of justice and other high-ranking ministry officials, signed off on executions that were then carried out two to four days after the order was given.

Execution in Japan is by hanging.

The documents reveal the main steps in the execution process, though some information, including how the condemned were selected and the circumstances surrounding their execution, was blacked out because it "could hamper the carrying out of executions (in the future)."

The ministry disclosed 1,137 copies of 10 types of documents, including "Execution Orders," concerning 34 death row inmates whose execution was approved and carried out between December 2007 and September 2012 under six justice ministers from both the Liberal Democratic Party and the Democratic Party of Japan.

According to the disclosed documents, the Public Prosecutors Office submitted a "Petition for Execution" to the justice minister one to six months after a death sentence was finalized requesting that the sentence be carried out.


Source: The Asahi Shimbun, January 23, 2013
Location: Japan
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