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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.

USA: Bill would expand Ohio death penalty

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CLEVELAND (AP) — An Ohio lawmaker wants to expand the state’s death penalty law to cover some sex-related crimes in a proposal driven by the case of three women who escaped a Cleveland home after being held captive for a decade.

The proposal introduced on Friday would allow for the death penalty in cases of rape, sexual battery and improper sexual contact with a minor if the suspect has a previous sex crime conviction.

Rep. John Becker, a Republican from Clermont County near Cincinnati, said he wanted prosecutors to be able to seek the death penalty for repeat sexual offenders.

“There’s always cases out there about rapists and child molesters,” he said. “I’ve always had this opinion that for some of those people there’s no cure. They just need to be put to death.”

Becker said that he expects prosecutors would pursue the death only “in only the most heinous crimes.”

The proposal is a direct result of the case of Ariel Castro, a Cleveland man who held three women captive in his home for a decade and repeatedly raped them.

Castro was sentenced on Aug. 1 to life in prison plus 1,000 years on his guilty plea to 937 counts including kidnapping and rape.

Source: The Columbus Dispatch, August 18, 2013
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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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