What are the penalties for disrupting the court in Vietnam?

Hello, Lawnet would like to answer your questions as follows:

Vietnam's Criminal Code has provisions on the crime of "Disruption in court or meeting".

Any person who insults the judge, jury members, the proceedings officer or other people present at the court or meeting or deliberately damages property, except in the circumstances specified in Article 178 of the Criminal Code (crime of destroying or intentionally damaging property) shall be considered as "Disruption in court or meeting" and will be prosecuted for penal liability as prescribed in Article 391 of the Criminal Code.

Article 391 of the Criminal Code 2015 (amended and supplemented in 2017) provides as follows:

"1. Any person who insults the judge, jury members, the proceedings officer or other people present at the court or meeting or deliberately damages property, except in the circumstances specified in Article 178 hereof, shall be liable to a fine of from VND 10,000,000 to VND 100,000,000, face a penalty of up to 03 years’ community sentence or 06 - 24 months' imprisonment.

2. This offence committed in any of the following circumstances shall carry a penalty of 01 - 03 years' imprisonment:

a) The court or meeting session or has to be suspended;

b) The judge, a jury member or proceedings officer is physically assaulted, except in the circumstances specified in Article 134 hereof.”.

Thus, cases of smashing things and beating other people (including members of the Trial Panel and other participants in court sessions and sessions) as in the case you mentioned above will be prosecuted. Penalties include a fine of between VND 10,000,000 and 100,000,000 and up to three years in prison.

Please refer to some more judgments on the charge of disorderly conduct at the trial n practice as follows

1. Judgment 27/2021/HS-PT dated March 22, 2021 on charges of disruption in court or meeting

In the courtroom, the trial of the civil case "Requesting compensation for damage caused by harm to health" between plaintiff X and defendant Nguyen Huynh T. During the working process, while waiting for the clerk to make a record, X and Nguyen Huynh T insult each other. However, T did not comply but continued to turn to look, pointed at H, and said, "I said Mr. H is stupid" twice more. At this point, H could not keep calm, so he held the microphone with his left hand, the type with a wire attached to the metal stand, and charged towards T. The microphone stand shot up and hit the wall, then fell to the floor without hitting the floor. person T. Next, H held the microphone with his left hand while his right hand held a fist and rushed to hit T's head and the back of his right hand many times. After being hit, T used his left foot to kick a hit on H's abdomen. After that, the two sides were dissuaded by NLC1 and NLC2, so they stopped fighting. As a result, T was taken to the emergency room.

The People's Court of Binh Dinh province declared:

- Defendants X and Nguyen Huynh T committed the crime of "Disruption in court or meeting"

- Sanction: Defendant X 10,000,000 VND to be added to the State budget.

- Sanction: Defendant Nguyen Huynh T 10,000,000 VND to the State budget.

2. Judgment 30/2021/HS-ST dated September 17, 2021 on the charge of disruption in court or meeting

During the public trial for Tran Van S, guilty of the crime of "illegal possession of narcotics", after deliberation, the Trial Panel entered the Trial Room to pronounce the sentence. While the Presiding Judge of the trial reads the decision of the first-instance criminal judgment, S has the act of using his foot to kick 01 (one) into the standing platform and hitting 01 (one) with his hand, dropping the microphone placed on the standing platform to the brick floor. Therefore, the court security force controlled S, so S stopped. With that aggressive attitude, he interrupted and caused a commotion in the courtroom. However, the trial did not stop and continued until the end of the trial of the case.

The People's Court of H City, Dong Thap province declared that defendant Tran Van S committed the crime of "disturbing court order." Tran Van S was sentenced to nine (9) months in prison. 

3. Judgment 462/2019/HS-PT dated August 15, 2019 on charges of resisting official duty performers and disrupting court order

In the first-instance court hearing the civil case, the dispute was between the plaintiff Nguyen Van N, the defendant Nguyen Van H, and Tran Thi E. While the presiding judge, Ms. Le Thi Hong V, pronounced the sentence, H did not If you agree with the content, raise your hand to comment. However, as the presiding judge continued to pronounce the sentence, H put down his hand, then took off his slippers, and took a step to the right. As soon as the chairman had just finished reading the sentence and was announcing the end of the trial, Nguyen Van H raised his hand in protest, ran up to the table of the procurator, and then H used his right hand to hit Procurator Nguyen Van L in the face. Mr. L. broke his glasses and caused skin abrasions right in the nose area of Mr. L.

After everyone left the court area, H's family members shouted and made noise in front of the court's lobby and courtyard. At that time, Mr. Le Van P1 (a reporter) was standing in the lobby of the court using his phone to record the incident. Mrs. L1, L2, BC2 saw this, so she rushed to grab Mr. P1's phone with the aim of not allowing him to return. record and delete 2 audio and video recordings. When the court's guard saw that, he went to stop it, and a fight broke out with Mrs. L1. Seeing this, Nguyen Van H rushed to fight the guard but was stopped by Lieutenant Colonel Phan Minh U and the police force protecting the trial. At this time, Mrs. BC2 picked up a stick on the ground, then used this stick to hit the police force four times from above to relieve H's siege, hitting Mr. U. 
At this time, Nguyen Van BC1 ran to support H and Do Kim L1, but Major Nguyen Anh Q prevented him, and BC1 hit Major Q 01 in the face with his right hand, and was overpowered by the police force.

The High People's Court in Ho Chi Minh City decided to: declare defendant Nguyen Van H guilty of "disturbing court order" and guilty of "resisting public official"; Defendant Nguyen Van BC1 committed the crime of "resisting official duty performers."

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