Table of Contents
1. Legal consequences for foreigners committing crimes in Vietnam?
2. Cases of criminal foreigners in Vietnam be extradited to their home country?
3. Cases of rejection of extradition of criminal foreigners in Vietnam?
1. Legal consequences for foreigners committing crimes in Vietnam?
Pursuant to Article 5 of the Penal Code 2015, amended and supplemented in 2017, stipulate Effect of the Criminal Code on criminal offences committed within the territory of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam herein:
1. The Criminal Code applies to every criminal offence committed within the territory of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
It also applies to criminal offences committed on sea-going vessels and airplanes having Vietnamese nationality or operating in Vietnam’s exclusive economic zones or continental shelves or consequences thereof.
2. Criminal liability of foreigners who commit criminal offences within the territory of Socialist Republic of Vietnam and are granted diplomatic immunity according to Vietnam’s law or under an international agreement to which Socialist Republic of Vietnam is a signatory or according to international practice shall be dealt with in accordance with the international agreement or practice. If the case is not set out in any international agreement or there is no such international practice, their criminal liability shall be dealt with in a diplomatic manner.
Hence, Criminal liability of foreigners who commit criminal offences within the territory of Vietnam and are granted diplomatic immunity under Vietnamese law, under an international agreement to which Vietnam is a signatory or accroding to international practice, their violation will be prosecuted for criminal liability under the provisions of Vietnamese law.
2. Cases of criminal foreigners in Vietnam be extradited to their home country?
According to Article 33 of the Law on Judicial Assistance 2007, there are a number of cases in which a foreigner who commits a crime on the territory of Vietnam is extradited to their country:
“1. Persons who may be extradited under the provisions of this Law are those who commit criminal acts for which the Penal Code of Vietnam or the criminal law of the requesting country prescribes penalties of one or more years in prison, life imprisonment or death penalty or who have been sentenced to imprisonment by a court of the requesting country and the remaining imprisonment duration is at least six months.
2. Criminal acts of the persons defined in Clause 1 of this Article must not necessarily be in the same category of crimes or the same crime, and the factors that constitute their offenses must not necessarily be the same under the laws of Vietnam and the requesting countries.
3. If criminal acts of the persons defined in Clause 1 of this Article took place outside the territory of the requesting countries, the extradition of offenders may be effected if those acts are criminal acts prescribed in Vietnams Penal Code.”
3. Cases of rejection of extradition of criminal foreigners in Vietnam?
Competent authorities in Vietnam have a right to reject extradite foreigners who commit crimes in the territory of Vietnam in specific cases in Article 35 of the Law on Legal Assistance 2007 as follows:
“1. Competent proceedings-conducting bodies of Vietnam may refuse extradition if the extradition requests fall into one of the following cases:
a/ The persons requested for extradition are Vietnamese citizens;
b/ Under Vietnamese law, the persons requested for extradition cannot be examined for penal liability or serve their penalties due to expired statute of limitations or other lawful reasons;
c/ The persons requested for extradition for penal liability examination have already been condemned by Vietnamese courts with legally effective judgments for the criminal acts stated in the extradition requests or the cases have been suspended under Vietnams criminal procedure law;
d/ The persons requested for extradition are those who are residing in Vietnam for reasons of possible coercion in the extradition-requesting country due to discrimination of race, religion, gender, nationality, ethnicity, social class or political viewpoint;
dd/ The extradition requests are related to different crimes and each crime can be examined for penal liability under the law of the extradition-requesting country, but fail to comply with Clause 1, Article 33 of this Law.
2. Apart from the cases of extradition refusal specified in Clause 1 of this Article, competent proceedings-conducting bodies of Vietnam may refuse extradition if the extradition requests fall into one of the following cases:
a/ Acts committed by persons requested for extradition are not crimes under Vietnams Penal Code;
b/ Persons requested for extradition are being examined for penal liability in Vietnam for the criminal acts stated in the extradition requests.
3. Competent proceedings-conducting bodies of Vietnam that refuse extradition under the provisions of Clauses 1 and 2 of this Article shall notify their counterparts in the extradition-requesting countries thereof.”