HANOI, Vietnam — Starting next month, Vietnam will eliminate the death penalty for eight crimes, including embezzlement and government overthrow activities, according to the parliament on Wednesday. This change will spare the life of a tycoon involved in a $12 billion fraud case.
The country’s lawmaking entity, the National Assembly, unanimously approved the Criminal Code amendment earlier on Wednesday to remove the death penalty for these offenses, as noted in an official statement.
Other offenses that will no longer result in the death penalty are the destruction of state property, the production of counterfeit medicine, endangering peace, initiating invasive wars, espionage, and drug trafficking, reported the official Vietnam News Agency.
The maximum sentence for these crimes will now be life imprisonment, the report said.
Those who were sentenced to death for these offenses before July 1 but have not yet been executed will have their sentences commuted to life imprisonment, the report added.
These will include real estate tycoon Truong My Lan, the chairwoman of real estate developer Van Thinh Phat Holdings Group, who was sentenced to death last year on embezzlement charges.
Lan’s lawyers did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
“According to the amendment of the Criminal Code, her sentence will automatically be reduced to life imprisonment,” lawyer Ngo Anh Tuan, who is not part of Lan’s defense team, told Reuters.
Ten offenses will remain subject to capital punishment in Vietnam, including murder, treason, terrorism and the sexual abuse of children, according to the report. Drug trafficking will also remain a capital offense.
Capital punishment data is a state secret in Vietnam and it is not known how many people are currently on death row in the country. Lethal injection is the only method of execution after firing squads were abolished in 2011.
