VietNamNet Bridge – Talk of abolishing the death penalty for several crimes continued to divide National Assembly (NA) deputies yesterday (August 26) as they discussed the draft Criminal Code.

Tran Van Do from the southern province of An Giang, said the purpose of law enforcement was not to punish but to educate. — Photo: laodong

Among the crimes some believe should be dropped from the draft list for capital punishment were robbery, destroying important works and war crimes,

Crimes that should be added to the list include embezzlement, taking bribes, and producing and trading fake medicines.

The session was held on the last day of the three-day meeting in Ha Noi.

Tran Van Do from the southern province of An Giang, said the purpose of law enforcement was not to punish but to educate.

"From my years of working on death penalty cases, there has been no proof that the penalty can help reduce crimes," he said.

Do added that measures to withdraw property acquired through corruption would make more sense than killing the offender.

Agreeing with Do, Tran Du Lich from HCM City said the criminal code should abolish the death penalty for seven crimes as drafted and continue to abolish the penalty for other crimes in future.

Chairman of the NA Justice Committee, Nguyen Van Hien, said that besides the already drafted abolition of seven out of 22 categories of crime attracting the death penalty – including robbery, destroying important works, creating war and war crimes - some deputies were proposing abolition for other crimes, such as embezzlement, taking bribes and producing and trading fake medicines.

Some deputies also proposed to abolish the death penalty for economic crimes.

However, Ho Trong Nghia from the southern province of Vinh Long, said that the crimes should be properly punished.

"We cannot say the purposes of charges are to educate and re-educate because we already have other institutions for that," he said.

Tran Ngoc Vinh from the northern city of Hai Phong, while agreeing with the abolition of the death penalty for seven crimes, insisted that the penalty should be retained for other crimes to keep social order.

Vinh also opposed a proposal to abolish the death penalty for those older than 70, saying that the elderly well knew the consequences of their wrongful actions, so they should be punished.

Deputies also discussed the draft Criminal Procedures Code yesterday, focusing on a regulation about whether audio and video recordings were compulsory during investigations.

The deputies agreed that the recordings were necessary to ensure transparency, help protect suspects and also protect interrogators from being slandered.

Dinh Xuan Thao from Ha Noi said recordings should be compulsory as they were the best way to avoid forced confessions and torture during investigations.

Sharing Thao's opinion, Bui Manh Hung from the southern province of Binh Phuoc, said that the regulation would help those who wanted to give depositions, evidence and information a chance to protect themselves.

"When the suspects ask for recordings during an investigation, the interrogators must meet the demand," he said.

He added that if suspects wanted to make recordings themselves they could, as recordings could now be done on smart phones.

Source: VNS