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Which offences carry the death penalty in Vietnam?

With effect from 1 July 2025, the death penalty applies to ten offences under the Criminal Code (Law No. 100/2015/QH13, as amended by Law No. 86/2025/QH15):

• Article 108 — High treason
• Article 112 — Rebellion (rioting)
• Article 113 — Terrorism against the people’s government
• Article 123 — Murder
• Article 142 — Rape of a person under 16 years old
• Article 248 — Illegal production of narcotic substances
• Article 251 — Illegal dealing in narcotic substances
• Article 299 — Terrorism
• Article 422 — Crimes against humanity
• Article 423 — War crimes

The death penalty is discretionary across all ten offences — it applies only to the most serious cases and is not mandatory. Sentencing courts must consider the nature, gravity, and individual circumstances of the offence.

Legislative context

The 2025 amendment removed eight formerly capital offences: activities against the government (Article 109), espionage (Article 110), sabotage of national security infrastructure (Article 114), manufacturing counterfeit medicines (Article 194), illegal drug transport (Article 250), embezzlement (Article 353), accepting bribes (Article 354), and waging a war of aggression (Article 421). Persons already sentenced to death for these offences had their sentences converted to life imprisonment by operation of law.

Drug-related offences

Two of the ten remaining capital offences — illegal production (Article 248) and illegal dealing (Article 251) in narcotic substances — are drug-related. The Human Rights Committee, in its July 2025 concluding observations on Vietnam, noted that drug-related offences do not meet the threshold of “most serious crimes” within the meaning of Article 6 of the ICCPR, and called on Vietnam to refrain from imposing the death penalty for such offences.^{[15]Criminal Code (Law No. 100/2015/QH13, 27 November 2015, as amended by Law No. 86/2025/QH15, 25 June 2025) arts 108, 112, 113, 123, 142, 248, 251, 299, 422, 423; International Bar Association Human Rights Institute, ‘IBAHRI welcomes reduction in scope of death penalty and calls for full abolition’ (2025), available at: ibanet.org; Death Penalty Information Center, ‘Vietnam Eliminates Death Penalty for Eight Offenses’ (1 July 2025), available at: deathpenaltyinfo.org; Human Rights Committee, Concluding Observations on the Fourth Periodic Report of Viet Nam (UN Doc CCPR/C/VNM/CO/4, 15 July 2025) paras 22–23, available at: docs.un.org} 

What additional protections apply to a foreign national facing a capital charge?

Persons excluded from the death penalty

Two distinct protections apply under Article 40 of the Criminal Code.

First, the death penalty may not be imposed on juvenile offenders, pregnant women, women nursing children under 36 months old at the time of the offence or during trial, or persons aged 75 or over at the time of the offence or during trial. These persons may receive a maximum of life imprisonment.

Second, even where a death sentence has already been imposed, it will not be executed where the convicted person is pregnant or nursing a child under 36 months, or is aged 75 or over. Additionally, for persons convicted of embezzlement or accepting bribes, execution will not proceed where the convicted person has returned at least one third of the assets concerned and has closely cooperated with authorities or made efforts at reparation. In all such cases the sentence is commuted to life imprisonment by operation of law.

Mandatory defence counsel

Where a person facing a capital charge has not appointed defence counsel, the investigating body, procuracy, or court must arrange for a lawyer to be appointed under the Criminal Procedure Code. This applies regardless of nationality.

Fair trial and international mechanisms

Vietnam’s ICCPR obligations require strict compliance with all fair trial guarantees in Article 14 in capital cases. The UN Human Rights Committee in July 2025 expressed concern about the lack of due process in capital proceedings and called for transparent, effective review procedures for newly discovered exculpatory evidence. Vietnam has not ratified the First Optional Protocol to the ICCPR and has not accepted Article 22 of UNCAT, so neither individual complaints mechanism is available.^{[16]Criminal Code (Law No. 100/2015/QH13, as amended by Law No. 86/2025/QH15), available at: ipvietnam.gov.vn; Criminal Procedure Code (Law No. 101/2015/QH13, 27 November 2015) art 76(2)(a), available at: natlex.ilo.org; Human Rights Committee, Concluding Observations on the Fourth Periodic Report of Viet Nam (UN Doc CCPR/C/VNM/CO/4, 15 July 2025) paras 23(b)–(c), available at: docs.un.org}

Can evidence or documentation from a foreign national’s home country be submitted in proceedings?

The Criminal Procedure Code (Law No. 101/2015/QH13) establishes an adversarial framework under which the defence has the right to collect and submit evidence at any stage of proceedings. Article 60(2) provides that defendants may present evidence, documents, and objects and request competent authorities to examine and verify them. The court is obliged to consider all evidence of both guilt and innocence.

Validity of evidence obtained through international cooperation

Article 494 of the Criminal Procedure Code expressly provides that documents and items obtained through international judicial cooperation in criminal matters are to be treated as evidence. This is the primary legal basis for the admission of materials sourced from abroad. The channel through which such materials are formally obtained is mutual legal assistance — Vietnam has concluded mutual legal assistance agreements in criminal matters with a number of states, and international cooperation requests are processed by the Ministry of Public Security and the Ministry of Justice. Where no treaty exists, the principle of reciprocity applies.

Authentication requirements

For foreign-issued documents to have legal validity in proceedings, they must be authenticated under Vietnamese law. Until 11 September 2026, the applicable procedure is consular legalisation: documents must be certified by the competent authority of the issuing country and then legalised by a Vietnamese diplomatic mission abroad, or by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Vietnam. They must also be translated into Vietnamese by a certified translator and the translation notarised.

Vietnam acceded to the Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents (Apostille Convention) on 31 December 2025. The Convention will enter into force for Vietnam on 11 September 2026. From that date, apostilled public documents from Convention member states will be accepted in Vietnam without consular legalisation, significantly simplifying the process. Until that date, the traditional legalisation chain remains in force.^{[17]Criminal Procedure Code (Law No. 101/2015/QH13, 27 November 2015) arts 60(2), 494, 495, available at: natlex.ilo.org; Hague Conference on Private International Law, ‘Convention of 5 October 1961 Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents — accession of Vietnam’ (14 January 2026), entry into force 11 September 2026, available at: hcch.net; Decree No. 111/2011/ND-CP on consular certification and consular legalisation (as amended by Decree No. 196/2025/ND-CP)}

What pardon or clemency mechanisms are available?

The State President’s clemency power derives from Article 88 of the Constitution of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam 2013, which vests in the President the power to grant pardons and, on the basis of National Assembly resolutions, to proclaim a general amnesty.

The individual clemency petition

The procedural framework for individual clemency in capital cases is set out in Article 367 of the Criminal Procedure Code. After a death sentence becomes legally effective, the files are sent to the President of the Supreme People’s Court and the Chairman of the Supreme People’s Procuracy, who have two months to decide whether to challenge the judgment. If the judgment is confirmed, the condemned has seven days to petition the State President for commutation. Execution may not proceed until the State President has formally rejected the petition. Commutation to life imprisonment is the only possible outcome of a successful petition. Under Article 40(4) of the Penal Code, where a commuted sentence derives from the conditions in Article 40(3), the convict may not be considered for their first sentence reduction until they have served a life sentence (25 years).

General amnesty

The State President may also proclaim a general amnesty, typically on national holidays, commuting the sentences of groups of death row prisoners. In 2022, four of 31 prisoners whose sentences were commuted by general amnesty were foreign nationals. General amnesties are not subject to published criteria and cannot be petitioned for directly.

Automatic commutation — distinct from clemency

The Article 40(3) mechanism, under which the death sentence is not executed by operation of law in defined circumstances, is separate from the clemency petition and does not pass through the President. See Q9 above.

Practice and transparency

Vietnam does not publish data on clemency petitions, grants, or rejections, and all such information is classified as a state secret. Based on available research, foreign nationals — particularly those from abolitionist states with which Vietnam maintains good relations — are among the groups most likely to receive commutation. Other documented factors include cooperation with police investigations and sustained international diplomatic engagement. The UN Human Rights Committee in July 2025 recommended that Vietnam develop comprehensive, transparent rules for the submission and review of clemency petitions, aligned with international standards and ensuring due process, certainty, and objectivity.^{[18]Constitution of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam 2013, art 88, available at: constitutionnet.org; Criminal Procedure Code (Law No. 101/2015/QH13, 27 November 2015) art 367, available at: natlex.ilo.org; Criminal Code (Law No. 100/2015/QH13, as amended) arts 40(3), 40(4), available at: ipvietnam.gov.vn; Daniel Pascoe, Clemency Procedures in East and Southeast Asia (ADPAN 2021) 171–185; Radio Free Asia, ‘Critics dismiss Vietnam’s clemency for death row inmates as “progress”‘ (9 February 2024), available at: rfa.org; Human Rights Committee, Concluding Observations on the Fourth Periodic Report of Viet Nam (UN Doc CCPR/C/VNM/CO/4, 15 July 2025) para 23(b), available at: docs.un.org}