{"id":46419,"date":"2024-02-09T14:12:34","date_gmt":"2024-02-09T22:12:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sweet-pascal.52-27-215-206.plesk.page\/critics-dismiss-vietnams-clemency-for-death-row-inmates-as-progress\/"},"modified":"2024-02-09T14:12:34","modified_gmt":"2024-02-09T22:12:34","slug":"critics-dismiss-vietnams-clemency-for-death-row-inmates-as-progress","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vietvalley.com\/en\/critics-dismiss-vietnams-clemency-for-death-row-inmates-as-progress\/","title":{"rendered":"Critics dismiss Vietnam\u2019s clemency for death row inmates as \u2018progress\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Vietnam\u2019s President Vo Van Thuong recently commuted the sentences of several inmates on death row to life in prison as part of a general amnesty, but rights campaigners and legal experts said the move should not be seen as a sign that the country is improving its rights record.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

Instead, they said, Vietnam\u2019s liberal use of the death sentence is part of a bid by the government to keep its citizens in line and burnish its international image through regularly announced acts of clemency.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

On Dec. 27, Thuong granted amnesty to 18 death row inmates, commuting their sentences to life in prison. More than a month later, five other death row inmates had their sentences similarly reduced after they filed a petition to Thuong.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

California-based activist Nguyen Ba Tung of the Vietnam Human Rights Network told RFA Vietnamese that the amnesty was simply part of a bid by the government to \u201cbeautify Vietnam\u2019s image on the world stage.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n

\u201cThe government retains the death penalty as a way to menace the people,\u201d he said in a phone interview. \u201cAt the end of the year, or on special holidays, they let the president grant an amnesty to show that they are \u2018humane.\u2019 But international human rights groups can see through this act.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n

Vietnam\u2019s judiciary is notorious for its application of the death sentence. Eighteen criminal charges in the country\u2019s penal code carry maximum sentences of execution \u2013 most of which are related to drug crimes.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

Amnesty International\u2019s latest annual report on death sentences and executions, released in May 2023, ranked Vietnam as eighth among nations with the most recorded death sentences in 2022, with at least 102.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

Just weeks prior to Thuong\u2019s decision to grant amnesty to the five death row inmates, a court in Nghe An province handed down nine death sentences to convicted traffickers from a busted drug ring.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

Amnesty \u2018not a progressive act\u2019<\/p>\n\n

Nguyen Van Dai, a veteran lawyer in the capital Hanoi, told RFA that the application and commutation of the death sentence is all part of a strategy by the government to threaten its citizens at home and avoid criticism abroad.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

\u201cEvery year, Vietnam hands out hundreds of death sentences to drug traffickers and murderers,\u201d he said. \u201cIf all the death inmates were executed, the international community would pillory Vietnam. So they find inmates who were sentenced to death for less heinous criminal acts and grant them amnesty.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n

Dai dismissed the idea of amnesty for death row inmates as progress or a sign of judicial reform.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

\u201cProgress means that clemency should be granted to all prisoners, both political or criminal, but it is never applied in cases of national security,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is a form of discrimination and I don\u2019t consider amnesty a progressive act.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n

In 2022, Vietnam granted clemency to 31 death row inmates, four of whom were foreign nationals.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

In September 2023, Vietnam <\/span>executed death row inmate Le Van Manh<\/span><\/a>, despite claims by Amnesty International that his case was \u201cmired in serious irregularities and violations of the right to a fair trial,\u201d and <\/span>calls by the international community<\/span><\/a> to stay his sentence.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

Manh was sentenced to death in 2005, when he was 23 years old, for allegedly raping and killing a female student from his village earlier that year. He had pleaded not guilty to the charges and maintained his innocence until his execution.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

Translated by RFA Vietnamese. Edited by Joshua Lipes and Malcolm Foster.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Tin t\u1eeb RFA Read More<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Vietnam\u2019s President Vo Van Thuong recently commuted the sentences of several inmates on death row to life in prison as part of a general amnesty, but rights campaigners and legal experts said the move should not be seen as a sign that the country is improving its rights record. Instead, they said, Vietnam\u2019s liberal use …<\/p>","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[82,239],"tags":[246,251],"class_list":["post-46419","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-society","category-vietnam","tag-english","tag-rfa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vietvalley.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46419","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vietvalley.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vietvalley.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vietvalley.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46419"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vietvalley.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46419\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vietvalley.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46419"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vietvalley.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46419"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vietvalley.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46419"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}