From November 1, lethal injection will replace firing squads, following a new government decree issued last month.
Under Decree 82/2011/ND-CP of September 16, which guides the new method of execution, lethal injection consists of the sequential administration of sodium thiopental for anesthesia, pancuronium bromide to induce paralysis and finally potassium chloride to stop the heart.
The drugs, which will be supplied by the Ministry of Health at the request of the Ministry of Public Security or the Ministry of National Defense, must be delivered with written records, sealed and strictly managed under law.
The decree prohibits illegal exchange or change of type, dose or quality of the drugs for execution.
Before execution, condemned persons can write letters and have their last words recorded and a special meal.
Under the Law on Execution of Criminal Sentences, relatives or lawful representatives of an executed person can retrieve his/her body within 24 hours after the execution, provided that they have filed a request prior to the execution. This request must be approved by the judge of the court which conducts the first instance trial.
If the condemned person is a foreigner, such request must be certified by a competent authority or the Vietnam-based diplomatic mission of the country of that person and translated into Vietnamese. The request must specify the name and address of the recipient of the body of the dead and his/her relationship with that person.
Relatives or lawful representatives of executed persons who are allowed to retrieve their bodies for burial have to cover transportation expenses and observe regulations on security and order.
The decree states that provincial-level People’s Committees are responsible for allocating land for building execution chambers and deciding on places for burying executed persons who are not received by their families.
Decree 82 was one of the documents guiding the Law on Execution of Criminal Sentences, which was passed by the National Assembly last June and effective in July, stipulating execution by lethal injection in replacement of firing squads.
A joint circular of the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of National Defense, the Supreme People’s Procuracy and the Supreme People’s Court was also expected to be issued soon to detail this method of execution.
Lethal injection was intended to reduce not only pain for executed persons but also psychological pressure for executioners, said Lieutenant General Cao Ngoc Oanh, Director of the Department of Criminal Punishment and Judicial Assistance (DCPJA), saying execution costs were not a big problem with only around 100 death sentences each year, most of which involved drug trafficking and murder.
He affirmed lethal injection was currently feasible and suitable in
Lawyer Truong Quang Vinh, deputy rector of
Doctor Nguyen Huy Quang, deputy director of the Ministry of Health’s Legal Affairs Department, believed lethal injection was the most humane method for condemned persons and best for executioners, stressing that even criminals should be treated humanely.
The cost for lethal injection was less than that for firing squads and this method was preferred in many countries, Vice Chairman of the National Assembly’s Legal Affairs Committee Hoang Van Minh said, stressing that thorough surveys on this method of execution had been conducted in many countries during the lawmaking process.
To enforce the decree, DCPJA is completing a system of execution chambers which will be first built in five cities and provinces namely Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Dak Lak, Nghe An and Son La, which report a high number of serious crimes.
Lethal injection would be done right in detention camps where condemned persons were kept, General Oanh said, adding execution chambers would be later built in prisons and detention camps of provincial police offices.
DCPJA was also reviewing execution facilities nationwide to increase technical and human resources for the work, he said.
Training in lethal injection for forensic experts, criminal technicians, detention camp personnel, judges and procurators should be conducted thoroughly, according to Major General Nguyen Xuan Yem, director of the People’s