Image source: NLD (Nguyen, 2025)
On June 27th, the National Assembly’s Office held a press conference to announce the results of the 9th Session of the 15th National Assembly.
During the conference, a journalist asked about the recently passed amendments to the Penal Code, which abolished the death penalty for eight offenses. The journalist inquired if Truong My Lan, convicted of embezzlement in the Van Thinh Phat case, would be eligible for a reduced sentence from death to life imprisonment.
Responding to this question, Ms. Nguyen Phuong Thuy, Vice Chairman of the Committee for Legal and Judicial Affairs, stated that the law explicitly addressed transitional provisions regarding the implementation of the death penalty. She clarified that for cases with effective court rulings before July 1st, 2025, the amended law provides specific guidelines for converting death sentences to life imprisonment if certain conditions are met.
“This demonstrates the consistent principle of leniency in Vietnam’s criminal law development,” said Ms. Thuy. “For offenses with reduced or more lenient penalties at the time of review, these provisions will be applied.”
Previously, in late 2024, the Ho Chi Minh City High-Level People’s Court upheld the death sentence for Ms. Lan on charges of embezzling over VND 300,000 billion from the Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB).
On June 25th, 2025, the 15th National Assembly passed the Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Penal Code with 429 out of 439 delegates voting in favor.
Notably, the amended Penal Code abolished the death penalty for eight offenses, replacing it with a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. These offenses include: attempting to overthrow the people’s administration (Article 109); sabotaging the material-technical foundations of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (Article 114); producing and trading counterfeit medicines (Article 194); illegal drug trafficking (Article 250); warmongering and invasion (Article 421); espionage (Article 110); embezzlement (Article 353); and bribery (Article 354).
Regarding transitional provisions, the Law stipulates that death sentences pronounced before July 1st, 2025, for the aforementioned eight offenses shall not be carried out, and the Chief Justice of the Supreme People’s Court shall decide to commute the death sentence to life imprisonment.
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