Vietnam Parliament Adopts Revised Penal Code, Controversial Articles Remain

by Defend the Defenders, June 20, 2017

Vietnam’s highest legislative body National Assembly on June 20 adopted the revised Penal Code in which controversial articles on national security provision remain unchanged in content.

The 2017 Penal Code which will replace the 1999 Penal Code from Jan 1, 2018 still impose heavy sentences to silence local political dissidents, human rights defenders and social activists.

The parliament, with domination of communists, agreed to keep Article 19 which requires lawyers to denunciate their clients in cases serious to national security. Many lawyers nationwide protested the article, asking the legislative body to remove it from the draft.

Many foreign governments and international human rights organizations have called on Vietnam to remove many articles in the Penal Code’s national security provisions which aim to prosecute local activists who just exercise their basic rights enshrined in the country’s 2013 Constitution.

The new Penal Code is with a highlight being ages subject to penal liability. It stipulates that persons aged from 14 to under 16 bear penal liability for very serious crimes or particularly serious crimes committed.

To gather with the Criminal Procedure Code, the Law on Organization of Criminal Investigation Agency, and Laws on Custody and Temporary Detention, the 2017 Penal Code will become effective from next year.

On the same day, the parliament also passed the draft laws on the guard force and on the management and use of weapons, explosive materials and support tools.