The National Assembly has passed amendments to the Penal Code, eliminating the death penalty for eight criminal offenses and allowing for previously issued death sentences to be converted to life imprisonment if certain conditions are met.

Among the eight crimes affected are: activities aimed at overthrowing the government; sabotage of infrastructure; producing or trading counterfeit medicines; unlawful transport of narcotics; undermining peace or initiating aggressive war; espionage; embezzlement; and receiving bribes.

Under the revised law, individuals sentenced to death for any of these crimes before July 1, 2025 - but whose sentences have not yet been carried out - will not be executed. Instead, the Chief Justice of the Supreme People’s Court is authorized to commute these sentences to life imprisonment.

At the press conference announcing the results of the 9th session of the 15th National Assembly on June 26, reporters raised the case of Truong My Lan, who was sentenced to death in the high-profile Van Thinh Phat corruption case (phase 1). They asked whether she would be eligible for the new legal provisions.

In response, Nguyen Phuong Thuy, Vice Chair of the Legal and Judicial Affairs Committee, confirmed that this legislation was proposed by the government, which outlined detailed justifications for reducing the scope of capital punishment.

While Thuy did not reiterate those arguments, she emphasized that the law provides a consistent and humane principle - applying more lenient legal provisions retroactively when they benefit the accused.

Accordingly, individuals sentenced to death before July 1, 2025 for any of the eight abolished crimes may have their sentences reviewed and potentially reduced to life imprisonment - provided they meet certain criteria.

Truong My Lan, Chairwoman of Van Thinh Phat Group, was convicted of embezzlement - a charge now removed from the list of capital offenses. In late 2024, the High People’s Court in Ho Chi Minh City upheld her death sentence for embezzlement, along with a 16-year sentence for violations in lending regulations and a 20-year sentence for bribery, resulting in a combined death sentence.

Tran Thuong & The Vinh