The Death Penalty in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam

The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) today released a special edition for the 4th Congress against the death penalty, a report on the death penalty in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, entitled "The Death Penalty in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam."

As 1,700 abolitionists from over 100 countries gather in Geneva for the 4th World Congress against the Death Penalty, the Vietnam Committee on Human Rights (CVHR) and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) express their opposition to the use of this inhuman and degrading punishment and call upon Vietnam to implement an immediate moratorium as a 1st step to abolishing the death penalty. In Vietnam, statistics on capital punishment are classified State secrets."

The State-controlled media has reported 11 death sentences since January 2010, and 58 death sentences in 2009, 14 of them for drug offences. However, the real figures are much higher. Peaceful dissent is punishable by death under vaguely-defined "national security laws," such as Article 79 of the Criminal Code, which makes no distinction between acts of terrorism and peaceful exercice of the right to freedom of expression. In 2010, human rights lawyer Le Cong Dinh and 4 pro-democracy activists were sentenced to up to 16 years in prison under Article 79 for calling for political reforms.

The use of the death penalty is frequent in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV). Capital punishment is applied for 22 offences, including murder, armed robbery, drug trafficking, rape, sexual abuse of children, and a range of economic crimes, such as graft and corruption, fraud and embezzlement (for 500 million dong - $33,200 or more of state property), illegal production and trade of food, foodstuffs and medicines. 7 political acts perceived as "threats against" national security carry the death penalty as a maximum sentence.

Capital punishment is most often used to sanction drug-related offences, followed by corruption, black-market trade and violent crimes. Vietnam has some of the harshest drug laws in the world. A 1997 law made possession or smuggling of 100g or more of heroin, or 5 kilograms or more of opium, punishable by death2. In 2001, 55 sentences were pronounced for drug trafficking alone.

Death sentences are frequently pronounced, despite revisions in the Criminal Code adopted by the National Assembly in 1999 which reduced the number of offences punishable by death from 44 to 29, and further revisions in 2009, which reduced this number to 22. Many high-ranking government officials, including President Nguyen Minh Triet, have expressed their opposition to the too-frequent use of the death penalty, but their stance has had no effect on the rising trend of executions. A reform of the death penalty adopted in May 2000 made only one change death sentences were commuted to life imprisonment for pregnant women and mothers of children under 3 years old.

Source: International Federation for Human Rights, Feb. 24, 2010