Five teams to inspect granting of pardons to prisoners

Five teams will look into granting amnesty for prisoners in a number of localities from August 3-14 in the run-up to the 70th National Day (September 2).

Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, who is also the Chairman of the Central Advisory Council on Amnesty, said the verification of the paperwork for prisoners to be pardoned needed to be conducted in a prompt and strict manner.

He asked the Supreme People’s Court to coordinate with the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of National Defence and the Supreme People’s Procuracy to provide guidance on the dossier compilation and verification.

There was no room for mistakes, he stressed, adding that individuals, agencies and organisations that made mistakes would be investigated and penalised.

The central advisory council is scheduled to consider clemency proposals from August 20-22 and then submit an amnesty list to President Truong Tan Sang for approval.

The announcement of the President’s decision and the granting of clemency will take place from August 28-31.

According to Head of the General Department for Enforcement of Criminal Sentences and Judicial Assistance Nguyen Ngoc Bang, clemency will be granted to around 16,000-17,000 prisoners on the occasion of the 70th National Day, the largest amount of prisoners released to date.

Those who will receive pardons this year include individuals sentenced to imprisonment for fixed terms and those serving life sentences that were turned into fixed-term sentences.-VNA