>>Penal liability in the criminal law of French-ruled Vietnam
>>Crimes against political security under French-ruled Vietnam's criminal laws
>>Crimes prescribed in penal laws of French-ruled Vietnam
Pham Diem
State and Law Research Institute
In Vietnam during the French domination, the lawmakers attached importance to prescribing the military offenses in the then criminal laws. Hoang Viet Hinh Luat (the Vietnamese Emperor’s Criminal Code) devoted a whole chapter (Chapter XIV) to this sort of crimes.
1. The general provisions on military offenses
According to Hoang Viet Hinh Luat, the military crimes are characterized by the following:
First, the subject of the crime, as provided for in Article 192, could only be people in the army (officers and men) and in police force of the Vietnamese feudal court. This also means that the officers and men of the French army in Vietnam were immune from local laws, who, if committing crimes, would be brought to trial before the French courts according to French laws.
Second, the objects of crimes, in the spirit and letter of all clauses and articles, were infringements against the army, military domains such as draft dodging, desertion, collaboration with enemy, breaches of army disciplines, infringement upon the military property,...
Third, regarding the penalty determination, if committing the same crime, officers would be punished more severely than men (Article 231).
2. Specific crimes
Military offenses can be classified into the following major groups:
a/ Crimes of draft dodging, desertion, post desertion
Article 208 of the said Code stipulated: Those who have not yet joined the army but, within one month after receiving the call-up for enlistment in the army, fail to show up for military service would be jailed for between one month and one year; for persons who once joined the army, the above time limit would be 15 days.
For the crime of desertion, the Code classified it into two types: desertion in the country and desertion to foreign countries. Article 209 prescribed the following acts as desertion in the country:
- Leaving the army units, posts for 8 days without permission; if the offenders have joined the army for less than 10 months, such duration is one month.
- Leaving one unit for another, one military post for another for 15 days without order and permission of commanders and failing to return to one’s own units.
The offenders of desertion in the country would be sentenced to imprisonment for between one and four years, or for at least three years if one of the following aggravating circumstances is involved:
+ Desertion with weapons, military uniforms, horses.
+ Desertion while being on official duty.
+ Recidivism.
Regarding desertion to foreign countries, Article 211 stated: Those who cross the border and are absent from their units for three days or more would be charged with desertion to foreign countries and sentenced to imprisonment for between two and three years, or for at least four years if one of the aggravating circumstances prescribed for desertion in the country was involved.
If desertion involves special aggravating circumstances, the deserters would be subject to the most severe punishment:
- Desertion with weapons to the enemy rank, the deserters would be sentenced to death; if they do not bring along weapons, the deserters would be sentenced to hard labor for life (Article 212).
- Desertion while in combat, the deserters would be imprisoned for between 5 and 10 years (Article 212).
- Desertion in groups of two or more persons, the deserters would be jailed for between 5 and 10 years (for desertion in the country); or between 15 and 20 years (for desertion to foreign countries); or sentenced to death (if desertion while in combat).
b/ The crime of infringement upon the military property
Those who sell horses or weapons assigned to them for military use would be jailed for between 4 and 5 years; if selling military supplies, they would be put to jail for between 1 and 4 years (Article 216).
Those who pledge military weapons, supplies or other things assigned to them for military use would be subject to a prison term of between 2 and 3 months or a fine of between 20 and 30 dong, and at the same time have to return such things (Article 218).
Those who deliberately destroy or ask other persons to destroy military weapons, storehouses, army camps, military supplies or documents would be sentenced to jail for between 5 and 10 years, or to death if such act is committed while in combat (Article 220).
Those who mislay their assigned military weapons would be subject to a prison term of between 1 and 6 months, or a fine of between 10 and 60 dong (Article 222).
c/ The crime of collaboration with enemy and mutiny
According to Article 193, those who commit the following crimes would all be sentenced to death:
- Transferring subordinates, military weapons, military secrets to the enemy, or ignoring these for the enemy to take advantage thereof.
- Colluding with the enemy for mutiny.
- Inciting subordinates to escape or refuse to fight while fighting is going on.
Regarding mutiny, Article 198 prescribed the following acts as mutiny:
- Carrying weapons, rallying in groups of 4 persons or more and disobeying the commanders’ orders.
- Rallying in groups of 4 persons or more, taking weapons without permission and acting against the commanders’ orders.
- Rallying in groups of 8 persons or more, using weapons to indulge in violence and refusing to obey the commanders’ orders to disperse.
When committing the above-named crimes, the mastermind, the ring-leaders and the top-rank culprits would be sentenced to death while the rest to hard labor for between 5 and 10 years.
d/ Crime of failing to fulfill assigned tasks or refusing to perform assigned tasks
Those who leave their defense position without permission would be sentenced to hard labor for life (if committing the offense while in combat) or to imprisonment for between 2 and 6 months (if committing such act while there is no fighting) (Article 194).
Those who fall into sleep while being on guard would be imprisoned for between 1 and 5 years (if fighting is going on), or between 6 months and 1 year (if under normal circumstances or being on guard at palaces, warehouses, prisons) (Article 195).
According to Article 196, those who are on guard in the capital city, palaces but upset the situation without plausible reasons, or on guard at public offices but let the offices be robbed, would be jailed for between 6 months and 3 years.
Article 197 stipulated: Those who are assigned to escort the king but come late without plausible reasons would be subject to a prison term of between 1 and 3 months or a fine of between 10 and 30 dong.
Those who refuse to obey commanders’ orders would be sentenced to hard labor for life (if the act is committed during war time) or to between 6 months and 5 years in jail (if it is committed under normal circumstances) (Article 199).
According to Article 226, those who were ordered to perform the military services but ask other people to do such for them would be imprisoned for between 2 and 3 months and so were latter.
Article 228 stipulated that those who deliberately hurt themselves by cutting their hands or feet or make themselves disabled in order not to perform their official duties would be jailed for between 6 months and 1 years.
Under Article 229, any military postmen who delay the transfer of official dispatches for more than 6 hours without any plausible reasons would be jailed for between 1 and 3 months or be subject to heavier punishment if such were important and urgent dispatches. They would be jailed for between 4 and 10 months if they lose dispatches, or for between 4 and 5 years if they destroy official dispatches without permission.
e/ Beating other people and robbery
Article 200 stipulated: Any army men, including officers and men, who beat other army men would be sentenced to hard labor for between 5 and 20 years (if they use weapons) or between 1 and 5 years (if they do not use weapons).
According to Article 202, any officers or men who assault their commanders would be sentenced to hard labor for between 5 and 10 years (if weapons are used) or between 2 and 5 years (if weapons are not used).
Under Article 205, those who resist their commanders would be jailed for between 6 months and 2 years (if weapons are used), or between 2 and 6 months (if weapons are not used).
According to Article 227, those officers or men who commit robbery or force people to sell goods at low prices would be jailed for between 2 and 5 years (for the principals) or between 3 months and 1 year (for the accomplices).
Besides, the code also prescribed a number of specific crimes.-