October 1, 2024
HANOI – State President Tô Lâm has granted amnesty to 3,763 prisoners for the National Day holiday on September 2 and Hà Nội’s Liberation Day on October 10.
The President Office, the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Supreme People’s Court held a press conference on Monday to announce the amnesty decision.
Two people serving suspended sentences were also granted amnesty at the same time.
Twenty of those chosen for amnesty are foreigners, including 19 men and one woman, said Đỗ Hùng Việt, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs.
The foreigners are from China (9), Laos (3), Cambodia (2), the US (2), South Africa (1), India (1), Congo (1) and Ireland (1).
They were charged for their involvement in murder, smuggling, gambling, and organising illegal stays for foreigners in Việt Nam.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs would send diplomatic notes to the relevant countries’ diplomatic missions and consular offices, requesting coordination with Vietnamese authorities to welcome those granted amnesty and to start the process of repatriating them to their home country or to a safe and suitable place of residence, Việt said.
Major General Nguyễn Ngọc Lâm, Deputy Minister of Public Security, said among the prisoners granted amnesty in 2024, there were 561 inmates from ethnic minority groups. Four hundred and three people committed crimes against economic management orders, 275 people committed position-related crimes, 64 people committed murder, and 205 people were involved in drug crimes.
Ninety-one people committed rape, 156 people committed crimes against property, and 77 people were accused of stealing.
According to Lâm, former officials Chu Ngọc Anh, Phạm Xuân Thăng and Đinh La Thăng were not on the list of people given amnesty this time.
According to Phạm Thanh Hà, vice chairman of the President’s Office, amnesty is one of the legal institutions stipulated in Article 88 of the 2013 Constitution, institutionalised by the 2018 Amnesty Law and related legal documents. In recent years, based on the nation’s humanitarian tradition, the Party and the State have amnestied prisoners who have done well either in reforming themselves, working or studying hard, to allow them to return to the community.
When considering amnesty, certain principles must be followed. Amnesty must be conducted strictly and democratically in an open manner, ensuring fairness and adherence to the provisions of law so that all eligible prisoners are considered and no prisoner who does not meet the prescribed conditions is considered for amnesty.
“In Việt Nam, all violations of the law are handled in accordance with Vietnamese law. All prisoners granted amnesty this time are those who have violated Vietnamese criminal law and have been sentenced by the People’s Courts at all levels of Việt Nam under the sanctions prescribed in the country’s Penal Code and Criminal Procedure Code,” he said.
“Amnesty does not discriminate or restrict any prisoner, whether the prisoner is Vietnamese or a foreigner. If the prisoner meets the conditions prescribed by Vietnamese law, he or she will be considered for amnesty,” he told the press conference.
He said early amnesty for prisoners serving prison sentences or temporarily suspending the execution of prison sentences who meet the conditions was a humane policy of the Party and State. The Government had directed the Ministry of Public Security and the people’s committees of provinces and centrally-run cities to implement measures and policies to help prisoners who have been pardoned and released from prison to return to their place of residence and reintegrate into the community.