What is crime for person who commits grave robbery to extort money from the deceased's family members in Vietnam?

What is crime for person who commits grave robbery to extort money from the deceased's family members in Vietnam?

According to Article 319 of the 2015 Penal Code, infringement upon human bodies, graves or remains is as follows:

1. Any person who commits grave robbery or otherwise infringes upon a dead body, grave or human remains shall face a penalty of up to 02 years' community sentence or 03 - 24 months' imprisonment.

2. This offence committed in any of the following circumstances carries a penalty of 02 - 07 years' imprisonment:

a) The offence has a negative impact on social security, order or safety;

b) The offence involves appropriation or destruction of historically or culturally valuable items;

c) The offender is committed by despicable motives;

d) The offence is for the purpose of taking part of the body or remains.

Pursuant to Article 170 of the 2015 Penal Code, extortion is as follows:

1. Any person who uses violence, threat of violence otherwise intimidates another person to obtain his/her property shall face a penalty of 01 - 05 years' imprisonment.

2. This offence committed in any of the following circumstances carries a penalty of 03 - 10 years' imprisonment:

a) The offence is committed by an organized group;

b) The offence is committed in a professional manner;

c) The offence is committed against a person under 16, a woman whose pregnancy is known by the offender, an old and weak, sick or defenseless person;

d) The property obtained is assessed at from VND 50,000,000 to under VND 200,000,000;

dd) The offence has a negative impact on social safety, order and security;

e) Dangerous recidivism;

3. This offence committed in any of the following circumstances carries a penalty of 07 - 15 years' imprisonment:

a) The property obtained is assessed at from VND 200,000,000 to under VND 500,000,000;

b) The offender takes advantage of a natural disaster or epidemic to commit the offence.

4. This offence committed in any of the following circumstances carries a penalty of 12 - 20 years' imprisonment:

a) The property obtained is assessed at ≥ VND 500,000,000;

b) The offender takes advantage of a war or state of emergency to commit the offence.

5. The offender might also be liable to a fine of from VND 10,000,000 to VND 100,000,000 or have all or part of his/her property confiscated.

Article 55 of the 2015 Penal Code provides for decision on sentence for multiple crimes as follows:

When a person is tried for multiple crimes, the Court shall decide the sentence for each of them and combined sentence as follows:

1. Primary sentence:

a) If all of the sentences imposed are community sentence or determinate imprisonment, they shall be combined. The combined sentence shall not exceed 03 years for community sentence and 30 years for determinate imprisonment;

b) If the sentences imposed include community sentence and determinate imprisonment, community sentence shall be converted into imprisonment. 03 days' community sentence equals (=) 01 day's imprisonment.

c) If the most severe sentence among the sentences imposed is life imprisonment, the combined sentence shall be life imprisonment;

d) If the most severe sentence among the sentences imposed is death sentence, the combined sentence shall be death sentence;

dd) Fines shall be aggregated and shall not be combined with other sentences;

e) Expulsion shall not be combined with other sentences;

2. Additional sentence:

a) If all of the sentences imposed are of the same type, the combined sentence shall not exceed the limit imposed by this document; fines shall be aggregated;

b) If the sentences imposed are of various types, the convict must serve all of them.

According to the above regulations in Vietnam, the thief of the remains entered the cemetery, dug and violated the grave and appropriated the remains, so this person committed the crime of infringement upon human bodies, graves or remains.

In addition, the person who stole the remains also threatened, extorted, or burned the remains, putting pressure on and threatening the family of the deceased in order to appropriate 300 hundred million Vietnam dong.

Depending on the circumstances, nature and level of behavior of the remains thief, the Court will issue a penalty decision according to the above provisions in Vietnam.

What civil liability is there for an act of infringement of graves in Vietnam?

According to the provisions of Article 607 of the 2015 Civil Code, compensation for damage caused by infringement of graves is as follows:

1. Each natural person or juridical person causing damage to the grave of another must compensate.

2. Damage caused by infringement of a grave shall include reasonable costs for mitigating and remedying the damage.

3. A person causing damage to a grave must pay an amount of money as provided in Clause 2 of this Article together with another amount of money as compensation for mental suffering of the closest relatives in the first line of succession to the deceased. If there are no such relatives, this sum shall be paid to the persons who directly reared the deceased. The amount of compensation for mental suffering shall be as agreed by the parties; if the parties are not able to agree, the maximum sum for each damaged grave shall not exceed ten-month base salary prescribed by the State.

Thus, the person who infringes upon the graves and remains must compensate for damage, including reasonable costs to limit and remedy the damage, and compensate for the mental loss of their relatives in Vietnam.

What are administrative penalties for threatening to burn remains to extort money from others in Vietnam?

Pursuant to Point b, Clause 2 and Clause 3, Article 15 of Decree 144/2021/ND-CP providing for violations against regulations on causing damage to property of other organizations or individuals as follows:

2. A fine of from VND 3.000.000 to VND 5.000.000 shall be imposed for any of the following violations:

b) Using deception or creating circumstances to force another person into giving money or property;

3. Additional penalties:

a) Confiscate the exhibits and means used for committing administrative violations specified in Points a,b,c and d Clauses 1 and Points a,b,c and dd Clause 2 of this Article.

b) Expel foreigners committing the administrative violations specified in Clauses 1 and 2 of this Article.

In Clause 2, Article 4 of Decree 144/2021/ND-CP, the fine levels are as follows:

2. The fines specified in Chapter II of this Decree are imposed upon administrative violations committed by individuals. The fine imposed upon an organization for the same violation shall be twice the fine imposed upon an individual.

According to this Article in Vietnam, those who threaten to burn remains to extort others will be administratively sanctioned with a fine of between VND 3,000,000 and 5,000,000 and apply additional sanctions as above.

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