What is extradition? Cases of extradition in Vietnam

What is extradition? Cases of extradition in Vietnam (Internet image)

1. What is extradition?

Clause 1, Article 32 of the Law on Legal Assistance 2007 stipulates the extradition for penal liability examination or judgment enforcement as follows:

Extradition means the hand-over by one country to another country of a person who has committed a criminal act or been criminally sentenced and is being present in its territory so that the extradition-requesting country conducts the penal liability examination or judgment enforcement against such person.

2. Cases of extradition in Vietnam

Article 33 of the Law on Legal Assistance 2007 stipulates the cases of extraditionas follows:

- Persons who may be extradited under the provisions of the Law on Legal Assistance 2007  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.

- Criminal acts of the persons defined in Clause 1 of Article 33 of the Law on Legal Assistance 2007  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.

- If criminal acts of the persons defined in Clause 1 of Article 33 of the Law on Legal Assistance 2007  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. Competence of Vietnam proceedings-conducting bodies

In Clause 2, Article 32 of the Law on Legal Assistance 2007 stipulates that Vietnams competent proceedings-conducting bodies may:

- Request competent bodies of foreign countries to extradite to Vietnam persons who have committed criminal acts or been criminally sentenced and their sentences have already taken legal effect for penal liability examination or judgment enforcement;

- Extradite foreigners staying in the Vietnamese territory who have committed criminal acts or been criminally sentenced and their sentences have already taken legal effect to requesting countries for penal liability examination or judgment enforcement.

4. Regulations on refusal of extradition to foreign countries in Vietnam

Article 35 of the Law on Legal Assistance 2007 stipulates for the refusal of extradition to a foreign country as follows:

- Competent proceedings-conducting bodies of Vietnam may refuse extradition if the extradition requests fall into one of the following cases:

+ The persons requested for extradition are Vietnamese citizens;

+ 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;

+ 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;

+ 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;

+ 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 the Law on Legal Assistance 2007.

- Apart from the cases of extradition refusal specified in Clause 1 of Article 35 of the Law on Legal Assistance 2007, competent proceedings-conducting bodies of Vietnam may refuse extradition if the extradition requests fall into one of the following cases:

+ Acts committed by persons requested for extradition are not crimes under Vietnams Criminal Code;

+ Persons requested for extradition are being examined for penal liability in Vietnam for the criminal acts stated in the extradition requests.

- Competent proceedings-conducting bodies of Vietnam that refuse extradition under the provisions of Clauses 1 and 2 of Article 35 of the Law on Legal Assistance 2007 shall notify their counterparts in the extradition-requesting countries thereof.

Ngoc Nhi

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