What are the cases of shortening probation period imposed on persons serving suspended sentences in Vietnam?

What are the cases of shortening probation period imposed on persons serving suspended sentences in Vietnam? (Internet image)

Regarding this issue, LawNet would like to answer as follows:

1. What are the cases of shortening probation period imposed on persons serving suspended sentences in Vietnam?

According to Article 89 of the Law on Execution of Criminal Judgments 2019, shortening probation period imposed on persons serving suspended sentences is as follows:

(i) A person serving suspended sentence may request shortening of probation period when he/she:

- Has served a half of the probation period; and

- Has strictly complied with laws and regulations and probation conditions prescribed in Article 87 of this Law; has taken initiative in learning, working, redeeming his/her faults or making achievements in work, protecting security and order and has been commended by the competent authorities.

(ii) A person serving suspended sentence may have his/her probation period shortened once a year for 1 month to 1 year.

If the remainder of the probation period is under 1 month, it may be eliminated.

A person serving suspended sentence may have his/her probation period shortened multiple times provided that he/she in fact has served at least three-fourths of the probation period.

(iii)  If a person serving suspended sentence has made merits or has suffered a fatal disease and he/she has satisfied all conditions prescribed in (i), the court may eliminate the remainder of his/her probation period.

(iv) If a person serving suspended sentence has his/her probation period shortened but he/she commits probation violation as prescribed in Article 87 of the Law on Execution of Criminal Judgments 2019 and the court compels him/her to serve the original prison sentence, the shortened period shall not be included in the serving time of the prison sentence.

Thus, according to the above provisions, the suspended sentence is proposed to shorten the probation period when serving half of the probation period; has strictly complied with the law and the obligations as prescribed by law; has actively studied, worked, corrected mistakes, or made achievements in labor; and has protected security and order as approved by state agencies. awarding authority.

2. Procedures for shortening probation period imposed on persons serving suspended sentences in Vietnam

Procedures for shortening probation period imposed on persons serving suspended sentences are as follows:

- The People’s Committee of commune or the military unit in charge of a person serving a suspended sentence shall verify if he/she meets all conditions for shortening of the probation period as prescribed in Clause 1 Article 89 of the Law on Execution of Criminal Judgments 2019.

If so, the People’s Committee of commune or the military unit in charge shall send a request for shortening of probation period enclosed with relevant documents to the criminal judgment execution agency of district-level police office or of military zone for consideration.

- Within 7 days after receiving such a request, the criminal judgment execution agency of district-level police office shall send its request for shortening of probation period of eligible person enclosed with relevant documents to the same-level court and procuracy.

If such person serving suspended sentence is not eligible for shortening of probation period, the criminal judgment execution agency of district-level police office shall notify the People’s Committee of commune in charge in writing of such ineligibility.

Within 7 days after receiving such a request, the criminal judgment execution agency of military zone shall send its request for shortening of probation period of eligible person enclosed with relevant documents to the regional military court and procuracy.

If such person serving suspended sentence is not eligible for shortening of probation period, the criminal judgment execution agency of military zone shall notify the military unit in charge in writing of such ineligibility.

- A request dossier for shortening probation period shall comprise:

= A written request for shortening probation period imposed on person serving suspended sentence;

= A copy of the judgment. In case of consideration of the second-time shortening of the probation period, a copy of the suspended sentence execution decision is required instead;

= A written request for shortening of the probation period made by the commune-level People's Committee or military unit assigned to supervise and educate the person serving the suspended sentence;

= The commendation decision or certificate of merit issued by a competent agency, for those who have received commendation or made a great merit; or certification of fatal disease issued by at least a hospital of province or military zone, for those who have suffered a fatal disease;

= A copy of the decision to shorten the probation period, for those whose probation period was already shortened.

- Within 7 days after receiving a dossier of request for shortening of the probation period, the chief judge of people’s court of district or military zone where the person serving suspended sentence resides or works shall form a council and hold a meeting to consider the request.

The council is composed of 3 judges; the meeting must be attended by the procurator of the same-level procuracy. In case a dossier needs to be supplemented, the time limit for holding a meeting shall be counted from the date of receiving the supplemented dossier.

- Within 3 days from the date on which the decision to accept totally or partially or not to accept the request for shortening of probation period is issued, the court must send that decision to the sentenced person, the same-level procuracy, the immediate superior Procuracy, the agency which requests shortening of probation period, the court which issued the decision on suspended sentence, the Department of Justice of province where the court which issued the decision on suspended sentence is based.

(Article 90 of the Law on Execution of Criminal Judgments 2019)

Nguyen Ngoc Que Anh

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