Rules for Transfer, Review, and Approval of decisions on charges against suspects in Vietnam

Rules for Transfer, Review, and Approval of decisions on charges against suspects in Vietnam (Image from the Internet)

1. Rules for transfer, review, and approval of decisions on charges against suspects in Vietnam

According to Article 10 Joint Circular 04/2018/TTLT-VKSNDTC-BCA-BQP, the process of transfer, review, and approval of decisions on charges against suspects, decisions to modify or supplement the decisions on charges against suspects in Vietnam is specified as follows:

- The investigating agency should actively exchange with the procuracy before deciding to prosecute the accused, deciding to modify or supplement the decision to prosecute the accused.

- Within 03 days from the date of receiving the decision to prosecute the accused, the decision to modify or supplement the decision to prosecute the accused, the procuracy must issue a decision to approve or cancel the decision to prosecute the accused, the decision to modify or supplement the decision to prosecute the accused.

If it is deemed that there is insufficient basis for approval, the prosecutor promptly exchanges with the investigator about the required evidence and documents and reports to the leadership of each sector to request opinions and uniformly agree on the contents to be supplemented. The procuracy's request to supplement evidence and documents must be in writing. If the evidence and documents cannot be supplemented, the investigating agency must clearly state the reasons in writing.

After supplementing evidence and documents as requested by the procuracy, the investigating agency must continue submitting the proposal for approval or withdraw the decision to prosecute the accused, the decision to modify or supplement the decision to prosecute the accused along with the supplementary evidence and documents as requested by the procuracy for review and decision according to its authority.

- In the case of reviewing the decision to prosecute the accused who is being detained, the approval period shall not exceed the detention period or the extended detention period. At the latest 24 hours before the end of the detention period or the extended detention period, the investigating agency must transfer the dossier requesting approval of the decision to prosecute the accused to the competent procuracy.

If the procuracy requires supplementary evidence and documents as a basis for approval, the time to supplement evidence and documents shall not exceed the extended detention period; if the evidence and documents cannot be supplemented within the extended detention period, the investigating agency must clearly state the reasons in writing and request the procuracy to review and decide.

- To supplement evidence and documents for reviewing and deciding on the approval of the decision to prosecute the accused, the decision to modify or supplement the decision to prosecute the accused, if the prosecutor and investigator jointly interrogate the accused, take statements from the legal representative of the commercial entity, witnesses, victims, and other participants in the proceedings, the investigator is responsible for copying and immediately transferring the interrogation records, and statement records to the prosecutor; if the prosecutor directly conducts interrogations or takes statements, the prosecutor must immediately transfer the interrogation records and statement records to the investigator to include them in the case file.

- The dossier requesting the procuracy for approval of the decision to prosecute the accused, the decision to modify or supplement the decision to prosecute the accused includes the following evidence and documents:

+ Written request for approval of the decision to prosecute the accused, the decision to modify or supplement the decision to prosecute the accused;

+ Decision to initiate a criminal case, decision to modify or supplement the decision to initiate a criminal case;

+ Decision to prosecute the accused, decision to modify or supplement the decision to prosecute the accused;

+ Interrogation records of the accused (if any), statement records from the legal representative of the commercial entity (if any); statement records from the person being reported, the person requested for prosecution, the person held in urgent cases, the person arrested, the detainee, witnesses, victims, and other participants in the proceedings (if any);

+ Other evidence and documents as a basis for prosecution, modification, or supplementation of the decision to prosecute the accused.

- The statistics, stamping, and transferring of documents in the dossier requesting approval as stipulated in Article 10 Joint Circular 04/2018/TTLT-VKSNDTC-BCA-BQP shall be implemented under the provisions of Clause 1, Article 35 Joint Circular 04/2018/TTLT-VKSNDTC-BCA-BQP.

- After receiving the decision to approve the decision to prosecute the accused or the decision to prosecute the accused from the procuracy, the investigating agency must proceed in accordance with Clause 5, Article 179 Criminal Procedure Code 2015 and must make a record of the transfer and receipt of the decision to approve the prosecution decision or the prosecution decision from the procuracy.

2. Regulations on Changing or Supplementing Decision to press criminal charges in Vietnam

Regulations on changing or supplementing Decision to press criminal charges in Vietnam are outlined in Article 8 Joint Circular 04/2018/TTLT-VKSNDTC-BCA-BQP as follows:

- Within 03 days from the date of receiving the decision to modify or supplement the decision to initiate a criminal case and the related documents from the investigating agency, the procuracy must review and handle as follows:

+ If the basis is unclear, issue a written request for the investigating agency to supplement the evidence and documents for clarification;

+ If the decision to modify or supplement the decision to initiate a criminal case is unfounded, issue a written request for the investigating agency to issue a decision to cancel it; if the investigating agency disagrees, the procuracy shall issue a decision to cancel the decision to modify or supplement the decision to initiate a criminal case as stipulated in Point b, Clause 1, Article 161 Criminal Procedure Code 2015.

- When there is clear evidence to modify or supplement the decision to initiate a criminal case, the procuracy issues a written request; within 03 days from the date of receiving the written request, the investigating agency must issue a decision to modify or supplement the decision to initiate a criminal case; if the request is not implemented, the procuracy shall issue a decision to modify or supplement the decision to initiate a criminal case.

- Do not modify the decision to initiate a criminal case if the investigation reveals that the act of the accused falls into another clause of the same crime originally prosecuted.

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