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THE
NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
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SOCIALIST
REPUBLIC OF VIET NAM
Independence - Freedom - Happiness
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No:
20/2000/QH10
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Hanoi,
June 09, 2000
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LAW
AMENDING AND
SUPPLEMENTING A NUMBER OF ARTICLES OF THE CRIMINAL PROCEDURE CODE
Pursuant to the 1992 Constitution of the
Socialist Republic of Vietnam;
This Law amends, supplements a number of articles of the Criminal Procedure
Code passed by the National Assembly on June 29, 1988 and amended, supplemented
by the laws amending, supplementing a number of articles of the Criminal
Procedure Code, which were passed by the National Assembly respectively on June
30, 1990 and December 22, 1992.
Article 1.- To amend,
supplement a number of articles of the Criminal Procedure Code as follows:
1. To add Article 10a on responsibility of
agencies conducting legal proceedings, persons conducting legal proceedings:
"Article 10a.- Responsibility of agencies
conducting legal proceedings, persons conducting legal proceedings
In the process of legal proceedings, the
agencies conducting the legal proceedings and the persons conducting the legal
proceedings must strictly observe the provisions of law and take responsibility
for their acts and decisions.
Those who act against law in arrest, detention,
custody, investigation, prosecution, trial and/or judgement execution shall,
depending on the nature and seriousness of their violations, be disciplined or
examined for penal liability according to the provisions of law."
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"a) Where there exist grounds to believe
that a person is preparing to commit a very serious offense or particularly
serious offense;"
"4. In all circumstances, the urgent arrest
must be notified in writing to the Procuracy of the same level and the
materials related to the urgent arrest must also be sent thereto for
consideration and approval.
The Procuracy shall have to strictly control the
grounds for urgent arrests provided for in this Article. If the Procuracy
refuses to approve the arrest, the arrested persons must be immediately set
free."
3. Article 70 on detention is amended,
supplemented as follows:
"Article 70.- Detention
1. Detention may apply to defendants, accused persons
in the following cases:
a) The defendants, accused persons commit
particularly serious offenses or very serious offenses;
b) The defendants, accused persons commit
serious offenses, commit less serious offenses subject to the imprisonment of
over two years as prescribed by the Penal Code and there are grounds to believe
that such persons may escape or hinder the investigation, prosecution, trial or
may continue committing offenses.
2. To defendants or accused persons who are
pregnant women or nursing their children of under 36 months old, who are old
and weak persons, or who are seriously ill while their places of residence are
obvious, no detention but other preventive measures shall apply, except for
special cases.
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4. The agencies issuing the detention warrants
shall have to examine identity cards of the detainees and notify their families
and commune, ward or township administration or the agencies or organizations,
where the detainees reside or work thereof."
4. Article 71 on detention period is amended,
supplemented as follows:
"Article 71.- The detention duration
1. The detention time for investigation shall
not exceed two months for less serious offenses, three months for serious
offenses and four months for very serious and particularly serious offenses.
2. Where a case involves many complicated
circumstances and is deemed necessary to require a longer duration for
investigation and where there exist no grounds to change or cancel the detention
measure, the investigation body shall, at least ten days before the expiry of
the detention time, have to file a document requesting the director of the
Procuracy to extend the detention.
The extention of detention is stipulated as
follows:
a) The director of the People’s Procuracy of the
provincial or higher level and the director of the Military Procuracy of the
military zone or higher level may permit an extension of no more than one month
for less serious offenses, may permit the first extension of no more than two
months for serious offenses, no more than three months for very serious
offenses and no more than four months for particularly serious offenses;
b) Where the first extension duration prescribed
at Point a of this Clause has expired while the investigation cannot be
terminated and there appear no grounds for change or cancellation of the
detention measure, the director of the People’s Procuracy of the provincial or
higher level and the director of the Military Procuracy of the military zone or
higher level may give the second extension of no more than one month for less
serious offenses. The chairman of the Supreme People’s Procuracy and the
chairman of the Central Military Procuracy may give the second detention
extension of no more than two months for very serious offenses and no more than
four months for particularly serious offenses.
3. For particularly serious offenses, where the
second extension of the detention duration prescribed at Point b, Clause 2 of
this Article has expired and the case involves many complicated circumstances
while there appear no grounds for change or cancellation of the detention
measure, the chairman of the Supreme People’s Procuracy may give the third
extension of no more than four months.
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4. During the detention, if deeming it
unnecessary to continue with the detention, the investigation body shall
promptly propose the Procuracy to cancel the detention in order to set free the
detainee or to apply other preventive measures if deeming it necessary.
Upon the expiry of the detention duration, the
persons who issue the detention warrants shall have to set free the detainees
or apply other preventive measures if deeming it necessary."
5. Clause 1, Article 88 on institution of
criminal cases at the request of the victims is amended, supplemented as
follows:
"1. Cases involving offenses prescribed in
Clause 1 of Articles 104, 105, 106, 108, 109, 111, 113, 121, 122, 131 and 171
of the Penal Code shall be instituted only when so requested by the
victims."
6. Clause 1 of Article 93 on the investigating
powers of the border guards, the customs, the rangers and agencies of the
people�s police force,
the people’s security force, the people�s
army, which are tasked to conduct certain investigating activities, is amended,
supplemented as follows:
"1. Upon the discovery of any criminal acts
which must be examined for penal liability within their respective fields of
management, the border guard units, the customs offices and the ranger agencies
shall have the powers:
a) For less serious offenses caught in the act
with obvious evidences, to issue decision to institute the case, prosecute the
convicts, conduct the investigation and transfer the dossiers to the competent
procuracy within fifteen days from the date of issuing the decision to
institute the case.
b) For serious, very serious and particularly
serious offenses or less serious but complicated offenses, to issue decision to
institute the case, conduct the initial investigating activities and transfer
the dossiers to the competent investigating bodies within seven days from the
date of issuing the decision to institute the case."
7. Article 97 on the time limit for
investigation is amended, supplemented as follows:
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1. The time limit for investigating a case shall
not exceed two months for less serious offenses, three months for serious
offenses, four months for very serious and particularly serious offenses, from
the time the case is instituted till the time the investigation ends.
2. Where it is necessary to extend the investigation
due to the complexity of the case, the investigating body must send a written
request at least ten days before the expiry of the investigation time limit to
the director of the Procuracy for the extension of the investigation.
The investigation extension is stipulated as
follows:
a) For less serious offenses, the investigation
shall be extended once for not more than two months;
b) For serious offenses, the investigation shall
be extended twice, the first extension shall not exceed three months and the
second extension shall not exceed two months;
c) For very serious offenses, the investigation
shall be extended twice, each extension shall not exceed four months;
d) For particularly serious offenses, the
investigation shall be extended thrice, each extension shall not exceed four
months.
3. The investigation extending competence of the
directors of the Procuracies of different levels is stipulated as follows:
a) For less serious offenses, the director of
the district-level People’s Procuracy and the director of the Military
Procuracy of the military zone level shall extend the investigation. Where a
case is received and processed at the provincial or military zone level, the
director of the provincial-level People’s Procuracy or the director of the Military
Procuracy of the military-zone level shall extend the investigation;
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c) For very serious offenses, the director of
the provincial-level People’s Procuracy and the director of the Military
Procuracy of the military zone level shall extend the investigation;
d) For particularly serious offenses, the
directors of the provincial-level People’s Procuracy and the director of the
Military Procuracy of the military zone level shall give the first and second
extensions of the investigation; the chairman of the Supreme People’s Procuracy
and the chairman of the Central Military Procuracy shall give the third
extension.
4. Where a case is received and processed for
investigation at the central level, the extension of investigation shall fall
under the competence of the chairman of the Supreme People’s Procuracy or the
chairman of the Central Military Procuracy.
5. For particularly serious offenses where the
investigation extension duration has expired, but due to the case’s great
complexity which disenables the conclusion of the investigation, the chairman
of the Supreme People’s Procuracy may give another extension for not more than
four months.
For offenses of infringing upon the national
security, the chairman of the Supreme People�s
Procuracy may permit further extension.
6. Upon the expiry of the investigation
extension duration while it is unable to prove that the defendant has committed
the offense, the investigating body shall have to issue a decision to suspend
the investigation."
8. Article 98 on time limits for restoration of
investigation, additional investigation, re-investigation is amended,
supplemented as follows:
"Article 98.- The time limits for
restoration of investigation, additional investigation, re-investigation.
1. In case of investigation restoration
prescribed in Article 140 of this Code, the time limit for continued
investigation shall not exceed two months for less serious offenses, serious
offenses and very serious offenses and three months for particularly serious
offenses, from the time of issuing the decision on investigation restoration
till the time of concluding the investigation.
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a) For serious and very serious offenses, the
investigation shall be extended once for not more than two months;
b) For particularly serious offenses, the
investigation shall be extended once for not more than three months.
The competence to extend the investigation for
each type of offense shall comply with the provisions in Clause 3, Article 97
of this Code.
2. Where a case is remanded by the Procuracy for
additional investigation, the time limit for additional investigation shall not
exceed two months; if it is remanded by the court for additional investigation,
the time limit for additional investigation shall not exceed one month. The
Procuracy and the court may return the files for additional investigation for
not more than twice. The time limit for additional investigation shall be
counted from the date the investigating body receives the returned case files
and the request for investigation.
3. Where a case is remanded for
re-investigation, the investigation time limit and investigation extension
shall comply with the general procedures.
The investigation time limit shall be counted
from the time the investigating body receives the files and the request for
re-investigation.
4. Upon the restoration of investigation,
additional investigation or re-investigation, the investigating body may apply,
change or cancel preventive measures according to the provisions of this Code.
Where there exist grounds for detention as provided
for by this Code, the detention duration for the restored investigation or
additional investigation must not exceed the time limit for restored
investigation or additional investigation prescribed in Clause 1 and Clause 2
of this Article.
The time limits for detention and detention
extension where the case is re-investigated shall comply with the general
procedures prescribed in Article 71 of this Code."
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"1. Within a period of not more than twenty
days for less serious offenses and serious offenses and not more than thirty
days for very serious offenses and particularly serious offenses, after the
receipt of the case files and the written investigation conclusion, the
Procuracy shall have to issue one of the following decisions:
a) To prosecute the defendant before court with
a bill of indictment;
b) To remand the case file for additional
investigation;
c) To stop or temporarily suspend the case.
In case of necessity, the director of the
Procuracy may permit the extension which, however, must not exceed ten days for
less serious offenses and serious offenses, fifteen days for very serious
offenses or thirty days for particularly serious offenses.
The Procuracy shall have to inform the defendant
and his/her defense counsel of the above-mentioned decisions. The bill of
indictment, the decision to stop or temporarily suspend the case must be handed
to the defendant. The defense counsel shall be entitled to read the bill of
indictment, take note of necessary things and make requests.
2. After receiving the case file, the Procuracy
may decide to apply, change or cancel the preventive measures. The detention
duration must not exceed the time limits prescribed in Clause 1 of this
Article."
10. Article 145 on the jurisdiction of courts at
all levels is amended, supplemented as follows:
"Article 145.- The jurisdiction of courts
at all levels
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a) The offenses of infringing upon the national
security;
b) The offenses prescribed in Articles 95, 96,
Clause 1 of Article 172 and Articles 222, 223, 293, 294, 295 and 296 of the
Penal Code.
1. The provincial-level people’s courts and the
military courts of the military zone level shall conduct first-instance trial
of criminal cases involving offenses which do not fall under the jurisdiction
of the district-level people’s courts and the regional military courts or cases
falling under the jurisdiction of the subordinate courts and taken to trial by
their discretion."
11. Clause 2, Article 151 on the time limits for
trial preparation is amended and supplemented as follows:
"2. Within no more than thirty days for
less serious offenses, forty five days for serious offenses, two months for very
serious offenses and three months for particularly serious offenses, from the
date of receiving the case files, the judge must issue one of the following
decisions:
a) To bring the case to trial;
b) To return the files for additional
investigation;
c) To stop or temporarily suspend the case.
For complicated cases, the president of the
court may decide to prolong the time limits of trial preparation, but for not
more than fifteen days for less serious and serious offenses and thirty days
for very serious and particularly serious offenses.
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With regard to remanded cases for additional
investigation, the judge must, within fifteen days after receiving the returned
case files, issue a decision to bring the case to trial."
12. Clause 1 of Article 226 on to be- executed
judgements and decisions is amended as follows:
"1. The to be- executed judgements and
decisions are those which have already taken legal effect, including:
a) The judgements and decisions made by the
courts of first instance which are not appealed or protested according to the
appeal procedures;
b) The judgements and decisions made by the
courts of appeal;
c) The decisions made by the courts of casassion
or trial review."
13. Clauses 1, 5 and 6 of Article 227 on
agencies and organizations, which are charged with the duty to execute
judgements and decisions of courts are amended, supplemented as follows:
"1. The police shall execute expulsions,
termed imprisonment, life imprisonment and join the council for the execution
of death sentence as prescribed in Article 229 of this Code."
"5. The civil judgement executing agencies
shall execute the judgement on pecuniary penalty, property confiscation. The
commune, ward or township administration or agencies and organizations shall
have the duty to assist the executor of court in the execution of judgement. If
it is necessary to apply coercive measures for judgement execution, the police
and other concerned agencies shall have the duty to coordinate therefor."
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14. Clause 1 and Clause 5 of Article 229 on the
execution of death penalty are amended, supplemented as follows:
"1. The president of the court which has
conducted the first-instance trial shall issue the judgement execution decision
and establish the death setence execution council comprising representatives of
the court, the procuracy and the police. The judgement execution council must
check the identity card of the convicted before the execution.
Where the convicted is a woman, before issuing
the judgement execution decision, the president of the first-instance court
shall have to organize the examination of the conditions for non-application of
the death penalty as prescribed in Article 35 of the Penal Code. If there
appear the grounds showing that the convicted has the conditions prescribed in
Article 35 of the Penal Code, the president of the first-instance court shall
not issue the judgement execution decision and report such to the president of
the Supreme People’s Court for considering the conversion of the death penalty
into the life imprisonment for the convicted."
"5. In cases where exists a special
circumstance, the judgement execution council shall postpone the execution and
report such to the president of the court who has issued the judgement
execution decision for further report to the president of the Supreme People’s
Court."
15. Article 231 on reprieve of execution of
imprisonment judgement is amended, supplemented as follows:
"Article 231.- Reprieve of execution of
imprisonment judgement
For persons sentenced to imprisonment and being
let out on the bail, the court president may postpone on his/her own or at the
request of the Procuracy, the police or the convicted the execution of
imprisonment judgement in cases prescribed in Clause 1, Article 61 of the Penal
Code."
16. Article 234 on execution of suspended
sentence, non-custodial reform and reform at disciplinary units of the army is
amended as follows:
"Article 234.- The execution of suspended
sentence, non-custodial reform
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17. To add Article 234a on execution of
expulsion penalty
"Article 234a. Execution of expulsion
penalty
The expelled persons shall have to leave Vietnam
within fifteen days after the issuance of the judgement execution decision.
Where persons penalized with expulsion have to serve other penalties or to
fulfill other obligations, the time limits for their departure from Vietnam
shall be prescribed by law."
18. Article 236 on execution of pecuniary
penalty or property confiscation
Decisions on the execution of pecuniary penalty
or property confiscation must be addressed to the Procuracy of the same level,
the executor, the convicted and the administration of the communes, wards or
townships where the convicted reside.
The property confiscation shall be effected
according to the provisions in Article 40 of the Penal Code."
19. Clause 1, Article 237 on conditions for
reduction of penalty-serving terms or exemption of penalty is amended,
supplemented as follows:
"1. Persons who are serving the penalty of
imprisonment, non-custodial reform, residence ban or probation may have their
penalty-serving terms reduced according to the provisions in Articles 57, 58,
59 and 76 of the Penal Code; if they have not yet served their penalties, they
may be exempt from the execution of the entire penalty as provided for in
Clauses 1, 2, 3 and 5, Article 57 of the Penal Code.
Persons enjoying temporary suspension of the
execution of imprisonment penalty may be exempt from the execution of the
remainder of their penalties as provided for in Clause 4, Article 57 of the
Penal Code.
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20. Clause 1 and Clause 2 of Article 238 on
procedures for penalty term reduction or penalty execution exemption are
amended, supplemented as follows:
"1. The courts competent to decide the reduction
of imprisonment terms shall be the provincial-level people’s courts and the
military courts of the military zone level, where the convicted serve their
penalties.
The courts competent to decide the exemption
from execution of imprisonment penalty shall be the provincial-level courts and
the military courts of the military zone level, where the convicted reside or
work.
The reduction of terms or exemption from
execution of other penalties or the reduction of probation period fall under
the deciding competence of the district-level people’s courts and the regional
military courts in localities where the convicted serve their penalties or are
put under probation.
2. The dossiers proposing the consideration of
the exemption of non-custodial reform penalty, the exemption from the execution
of whole or remaining part of imprisonment penalty, the exemption for the
execution of the remaining part of pecuniary penalty must be made with the
recommendation of the director of the Procuracy of the same level.
The dossiers proposing the consideration of the
reduction of imprisonment terms must be made with the recommendation of the
imprisonment execution agencies.
The dossiers proposing the consideration of the
reduction of non-custodial reform terms must be made with the recommendation of
the agencies, organizations or local administrations which have been assigned
the tasks of direct supervision and education.
The dossiers proposing the consideration of
reduction of or exemption from other penalties or reduction of the period under
probation of the suspended sentence must include the recommendations or remarks
of agencies or organizations which are tasked to execute judgements as provided
for in Article 227 of this Code."
21. Article 273 on arrest, custody, detention is
amended, supplemented as follows:
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1. Persons aged between full 14 and under 16 may
be arrested, put into custody or detained if there are enough grounds provided
for in Articles 62, 63, 64, 68 and 71 of this Code, but only in cases of
intentionally committing serious offenses, committing very serious offenses or
committing particularly serious offenses."
22. Article 279 on termination of execution of
judicial measures and reduction of penalty-serving terms is amended,
supplemented as follows:
"Article 279.- Termination of execution of
judicial measures, penalty service reduction or exemption
Minor convicted may be entitled to the
termination of execution of judicial measures, the penalty service reduction or
exemption when there appear all conditions prescribed in Article 70 or Article
76 of the Penal Code."
Article 2.- To replace
numerals and phrases of the Criminal Procedure Code as follows:
1. To amend the numerals of articles and clauses
of the Penal Code cited in the Criminal Procedure Code into the corresponding
numbers of articles and clauses of the 1999 Penal Code as follows:
a) To replace the numeral "Article
242" in Clause 3 of Article 39, Clause 4 of Article 43, Clause 3 of
Article 44 with the numeral "Article 308";
b) To replace the numeral "Article
241" in Clause 4 of Article 43, Clause 3 of Article 44, Clause 2 of
Article 45 with the numeral "Article 307";
c) To replace the numeral "Article
236" in Clause 3 of Article 57 with the numeral "Article 300";
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e) To replace the numerals "Articles 92,
93, 222, 223, 262, 263" in Article 101 with the numerals "Articles
263, 264, 286, 287, 327, 328";
f) To replace the numerals "Article
234", "Article 235" in Clause 3 of Article 107, with the
numerals "Article 298", "Article 299";
g) To replace the numeral "Article
244" in Clause 2 of Article 121 and Article 122 with the numeral
"Article 310";
h) To replace the numerals "Paragraph 1,
Clause 1, Article 48" in Clause 3 of Article 139 with the numerals
"Clause 1 and Clause 3 of Article 25";
i) To replace the numerals "Article 16,
Clause 1 of Article 48 and Clause 3 of Article 59" in Clause 1, Article 143b
with the numerals "Article 19, Article 25 and Clause 2 of Article
69";
j) To replace the numeral "Article 231 of
this Code" in Clause 1 of Article 232 with the numerals "Clause 1 of
Article 61 and Article 62 of the Penal Code";
k) To replace the numeral "Article 44"
in Clause 2, Article 237 with the numeral "Article 60";
l) To replace the numeral "Article 53"
in Article 239 with the numeral "Article 64";
m) To replace the numerals "Article
54", "Article 55" in Clause 1, Article 240 with the numerals
"Article 65", "Article 66";
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o) To replace the numeral "Article 60"
in Clause 2, Article 277, with the numeral "Article 70";
p) To replace the numeral "Article 67"
in Article 280 with the numeral "Article 77";
q) To replace the numeral "Article 12"
in Clause 1, Article 281 with the numeral "Article 13".
2. To amend the phrases of the Criminal
Procedure Code as follows:
a) The phrase " particularly dangerous
offenses of infringing upon the national security" in Article 36 is
replaced by the phrase "the offenses of infringing upon national
security";
b) The phrase "the Council of
Ministers" in Article 72 is replaced by the phrase "the
Government";
c) The phrase "the State Council" in
Article 92 and Article 93 is replaced by the phrase "the National Assembly
Standing Committee";
d) The phrase "the State Council" in
Article 228 and Article 229 is replaced by the phrase "the State
President";
e) The phrase "the supreme court
martial" in Articles 146, 215, 244, 248, 250 and 266 is replaced by the
phrase "the Central Court Martial";
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Article 3..- To annul
Article 160a on composition of the collegiate bench acting as court of first
instance-cum-final tribunal.
Article 4.- This Law takes
implementation effect as from July 1st, 2000
Article 5.- The Government,
the Supreme People’s Court and the Supreme People’s Procuracy shall, within the
scope of their respective functions, tasks and powers, guide the implementation
of this Law.
This Law was passed on June 9, 2000 by the Xth
National Assembly of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam at its 7th session.
NATIONAL ASSEMBLY CHAIRMAN
Nong Duc Manh