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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.

Bernie Sanders Honored In Beverly Hills For Opposition to Death Penalty

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Bernie Sanders
Bernie Sanders
Sanders received the award for being the first presidential candidate in nearly 30 years to declare his opposition to the death penalty.

BEVERLY HILLS, CA — Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders was honored for his opposition to the death penalty in Beverly Hills on Sunday, one day after expressing optimism about creating "a government which works for all of us."

Sanders received the Abolition Award at the 26th annual Death Penalty Focus Awards Dinner at The Beverly Hilton for being the first presidential candidate in nearly 30 years to forcefully declare his opposition to the death penalty and playing a key role in getting the Democratic Party to adopt abolition of capital punishment as a plank in its platform, organizers said.

"Senator Sanders was instrumental in getting the Democratic Party to adopt abolition of capital punishment as a plank in its official platform last summer," said DPF President Mike Farrell. "I can't think of anyone who deserves the honor more."

With more than 150 thousand supporters, Death Penalty Focus is one of the world's largest organizations solely dedicated to ending capital punishment. For nearly three decades, DPF has worked to raise public awareness, mobilize grassroots activists, build coalitions, and educate policy makers about the death penalty and its alternatives.

His wife Jane presented him with the award. The dinner was organized by Death Penalty Focus, which describes itself as one of the world's largest organizations solely dedicated to the abolition of the death penalty.

Sanders and his wife Jane received the Public Servants of the Year award from the nonprofit nonpartisan public interest group Consumer Watchdog on Saturday night at the Beverly Wilshire.

In his acceptance speech, Sanders said "unless we develop a movement in this country from coast to coast which is prepared to take on oligarchy, which is prepared to take on the Trump administration and the corporate greed that is destroying the middle class ... the outcome for this country will not be good.

But I do believe, having been all over this country, having talked to well over a million people... that we are coming together and that we are going to create a government which works for all of us and not just the 1 percent."

Source PATCH SOCAL, Patch Staff, May 8, 2017

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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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