Do defendants have the right to request for a halt to a trial in Vietnam?

In which cases may a trial in Vietnam be halted?

Pursuant to Clause 1 Article 251 of the Criminal Procedure Code in 2015, the trial may be halted in one of the following events:

a) Evidences, document and items must be verified, gathered or supplemented; however, such tasks are not viable in court and shall be fulfilled in 05 days' time upon the temporary halt to the trial;

b) Authorized procedural persons and participants in legal proceedings, due to health conditions, force majeure or objective obstacles, cannot continue their attendance in court; however, they can reappear in court in 05 days' time upon the temporary halt to the trial;

c) The court clerk is absent from the Courtroom.

As regulations above, if one of those events occurs, the trial may be halted.

Do defendants have the right to request for a halt to a trial in Vietnam?

Pursuant to Clause 2 Article 61 of the Criminal Procedure Code in 2015, defendants are entitled to:

a) Obtain decisions on hearing of lawsuits; decisions on enforcement, change or termination of preventive and coercive measures; decisions on case suspension; judgments, Court's rulings and other decisions on legal proceedings as per this Law;

b) Attend the trial;

c) Be informed and explained about their rights and duties as per this Article;

d) Petition for expert examinations, valuation, change of authorized procedural persons, expert witnesses, valuators, interpreters, translators, summoning of witness testifiers, crime victims, individuals having duties and interests from the lawsuit, expert witnesses, valuators, other participants in legal proceedings and authorized procedural persons to the Court;

dd) Present evidences, documents, items and requests;

e) Confer on relevant evidences, documents, items and request authorized procedural persons to inspect and assess such;

g) Defend themselves or be defended;

h) Give statements and opinions, bear no obligation to testify against themselves or admit to guilt;

i) Inquire and request Court presidents to question courtroom participants with the Court president’s consent; engage in oral arguments in court;

k) Give final statement prior to the deliberation of judgments;

l) Read the Court's report and request amendments to the Court's report;

m) Appeal against the Court’ judgments and rulings;

n) Complain about competent procedural authorities and persons’ decisions and legal proceedings;

o) Other rights as per the laws.

As regulations above, defendants don't have the right to request for a halt to a trial in Vietnam.

Best regards!