Vietnam Cuts Death Penalty for Eight Crimes

Vietnam's National Assembly unanimously passed amendments to the Criminal Code, abolishing the death penalty for eight major crimes including embezzlement, bribery, espionage, producing and trading counterfeit medicines, illegal narcotics transportation, sabotage, attempting to overthrow the government, and crimes against peace and war. The changes, effective from July, reduce the number of capital offenses from 18 to 10, with the death penalty retained for murder, treason, terrorism, child sexual abuse, and certain drug trafficking cases. Offenders convicted of the abolished crimes will now face life imprisonment, and those already on death row for these offenses will have their sentences commuted. The reform spares individuals such as real estate tycoon Truong My Lan from execution. Officials cited the need to align with socio-economic realities, improve international cooperation, and address inconsistencies in the application of capital punishment. Vietnam has used lethal injection as its sole execution method since 2011 and keeps execution data a state secret.