Law reform needed to ensure meaning of amnesty: NA deputies
Members of the National Assembly’s Judicial Committee have agreed on the need to amend the 2007 Law on Amnesty to make it fall in line with the 2013 Constitution and other related laws, and to ensure the meaning of amnesty.
Hanoi (VNA) – Members of the National Assembly’s Judicial Committee haveagreed on the need to amend the 2007 Law on Amnesty to make it fall in linewith the 2013 Constitution and other related laws, and to ensure the meaning ofamnesty.
Theconsensus was reached during a plenary session of the committee which was heldin Hanoi on April 5 to examine the draft revision to the Law on Amnesty.
Overthe past ten years since the adoption of the 2007 Law on Amnesty, the State hadgranted amnesty to nearly 86,000 prisoners.
According to the committee, amnestywas defined a special leniency by the State, through a presidential decision torelease prisoners before the completion of their prison terms or commutingsentences entirely as rewards for good behavior, or repentance as well as toencourage them to repent, reform and become useful for society.
Deputies said the amnesty results over the past yearsshowed the effectiveness of amnesty in encouraging prisoners to study, work andstrive to reform. The rate of prisoners who received amnesty and re-offendedwas very low.
However, they said the law was issued in 2007 and hasrevealed shortcomings and no longer matched other related laws.
Chairwoman of the committee Le Thi Nga said one ofshortcomings of the law was that criteria for prisoners to be granted amnestywas not tight enough so the number of prisoners getting amnesty was quite big,reducing the meaning of the policy and affecting the judgments made by judicialbodies.
Some deputies agreed that the draft revision shouldtighten criteria to grant amnesty to prisoners to ensure fairness and themeaning of the policy.
Most deputies also agreed with the change of the lawto regulate the time to grant amnesty which will be made coinciding withspecial events of the country. At present, amnesty decisions can be issued onthe occasion of special events or big holidays. -VNA
As many as 97 prisoners, including six foreigners, in the Phu Son Prison 4 in Phu Luong district, the northern province of Thai Nguyen, were granted the President’s amnesty in 2016.
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At the plenary session (Source: VNA)
