Is it possible to become interpreters in a criminal trial in Vietnam with certificates on foreign languages?

Is it possible to become interpreters in a criminal trial in Vietnam with certificates on foreign languages?

Article 70 of the Criminal Procedure Code 2015 provides for interpreters and translators as follows:

1. Interpreters and translators are capable of interpreting and translating languages, whose services are demanded by competent procedural authorities when participants in legal proceedings do not speak Vietnamese or documents are made in foreign languages.

2. Interpreters and translators are entitled to:

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

b) Request entities demanding their services to protect their life, health, honor, dignity, property, legitimate rights and benefits and kindred against menaces;

c) Complain about competent procedural authorities and persons’ decisions and legal proceedings regarding oral and written translation;

d) Receive payments for interpretation and translation from authorities demanding their services and other benefits as per the laws.

3. Interpreters and translators bear these duties:

a) Be present as per competent procedural authorities’ subpoena;

b) Perform tasks of oral and written translation in honesty. If interpreters and translators provide deceitful services, they shall face criminal liabilities as per the Criminal Code;

c) Maintain confidentiality of investigation secrets grasped during their tasks of oral and written translation;

d) Guarantee the execution of their duties before the authorities demanding their services.

4. Interpreters and translators must decline to engage in legal proceedings or submit to replacement in the following events:

a) They are concurrently crime victims, litigants; or representatives, kindred of crime victims, litigants or suspects, defendants;

b) Having performed the role of defense counsels, witness testifiers, expert witnesses, and valuators in the lawsuit;

c) Having engaged in legal proceedings of the lawsuit.

5. The authorities demanding services of oral and written translation shall decide the replacement of interpreters and translators.

6. The stipulations of this Article shall also apply to individuals comprehending signs and behaviors of the mute or the deaf, and writing of the blind.

According to current regulations in Vietnam, the law requires interpreters to be able to interpret. Therefore, if you have the ability to interpret and are required by a competent authority to conduct legal proceedings, you can become an interpreter in criminal cases.

Is it possible to be an interpreter and a defense counsel in the same criminal case at the same time in Vietnam?

In Clause 4, Article 70 of the Criminal Procedure Code 2015, it is provided as follows:

4. Interpreters and translators must decline to engage in legal proceedings or submit to replacement in the following events:

a) They are concurrently crime victims, litigants; or representatives, kindred of crime victims, litigants or suspects, defendants;

b) Having performed the role of defense counsels, witness testifiers, expert witnesses, and valuators in the lawsuit;

c) Having engaged in legal proceedings of the lawsuit.

According to this Article, it is not allowed to act as interpreter and defense counsel in the same criminal case at the same time in Vietnam.

Best Regards!