Conference commenting on the Government’s report on the result of collecting people’s comments on amended Penal Code

25/09/2015
Conference commenting on the Government’s report on the result of collecting people’s comments on amended Penal Code
On 22 September 2015, the Ministry of Justice in collaboration with the Government Office held a conference to collect comments on the Government’s report on the result of pooling people’s comments on amended Penal Code. The Justice Minister Ha Hung Cuong and Vice Chairman of the Government Office Kieu Dinh Thu co-chaired the conference.

Deputy Justice Minister Dinh Trung Tung, Judge Major-General Tran Van Do, member of the National Assembly, former Deputy Chief Justice of the Supreme People's Court, Chief Justice of the Central Military Court, Deputy Chief Justice of the Supreme People's Court Nguyen Son, Vice President of the Vietnam Bar Federation Nguyen Van Chien, Vice Chairman of Hanoi’s People’s Committee Le Van Hoat, Vice Chairman of Thua Thien Hue’s People’s Committee Nguyen Dung and representatives of ministries, ministerial level agencies and northern localities participated in the conference.

The activity of pooling people’s comments on amended Penal Code was held under various forms

In the past two months, the Central Committee of the Vietnam Fatherland Front, the Supreme People's Court, the Supreme People's Procuracy, ministries, ministerial-level agencies, Government agencies, People's Committees of provinces and centrally-run cities, agencies, organizations, and units at central and local levels organized the activity of pooling people’s comments on amended Penal Code with various forms and at different levels, creating favorable conditions for people to access and give comments on the draft Penal Code (amended).

According to Deputy Minister of Justice Dinh Trung Tung, the Ministry of Justice has received reports of 16 ministries, central agencies; 39 provinces and centrally-run cities, 20 agencies and organizations, and 15 individuals with about 3 million comments on the draft Penal Code. Mr Tung was very happy to announce that such comments are diverse and multidimensional. Particularly, they focused not only on 8 key issues offered but also on other content in the draft Penal Code. Deputy Minister Dinh Trung Tung stressed that the Ministry of Justice has compiled these comments and suggestions in a full, honest, objective and meticulous manner.

Competent authorities must be very responsible with the People’s comments on the draft Penal Code

Vice Chairman of Hanoi’s People’s Committee Le Van Hoat informed that Hanoi seriously and methodically organized the activity of collecting people’s comments on amended Penal Code. Mr Hoat focused that in terms of issues offered for commenting, if the opinion on such issues is 50-50, they must be carefully considered and specifically noted in the draft report to the National Assembly for discussion and decision.

Speaking at the conference, Deputy Chief Justice of the Supreme People's Court Nguyen Son stressed that competent authorities must be very responsible with the People’s comments on the draft Penal Code. Besides 8 key issues offered for commenting, the People also made suggestions on many issues and provisions of the Draft. Therefore, a careful and comprehensive report must be made to synthesize such comments of the People. Vice Chairman of the Government Office Kieu Dinh Thu shared the same opinion with the Deputy Chief Justice Nguyen Son.

Addressing the conference, Minister of Justice Ha Hung Cuong affirmed that the Government’s report on the result of collecting people’s comments on amended Penal Code is very essential. Therefore, it should be made in a full, honest, objective and meticulous manner. The Government's proposal must adhere to the Platform of the Communist Party of Vietnam, the 2013 Constitution, and the orientation of the Politburo, the National Assembly and the Government. By doing this, the Penal Code, after being adopted, will meet the requirements of development of the country in the new era./.

According to the Resolution of the National Assembly Standing Committee and the Government Decision on the process of collecting people’s opinions on the draft revised Penal Code, Vietnamese people living at home and abroad have been called on to make comments on the draft revised Penal Code from 15 July  to 14 September 2015.

Speaking at the ceremony to announce the Resolution of the National Assembly Standing Committee and the Government Decision on this activity, Deputy Minister of Justice Dinh Trung Tung emphasized that people are invited to give comments on the entire draft revised Penal Code with a focus on core issues including criminal liability of a legal entity and types of crimes; scope of criminal liability of juvenile and alternative penalties; the removal of the death penalty for several crimes; and the commutation of the death sentence to life imprisonment, among others.