02 cases of postponement of execution of death sentences by lethal injection
On October 14, 2020, the Ministry of Public Security, Ministry of National Defense, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Supreme People’s Court and Supreme People’s Procuracy promulgate the Joint Circular No. 02/2020/TTLT-BCA-BQP-BYT-BNG-TANDTC-VKSNDTC on coordinated organization of execution of death sentences by lethal injection.
Specifically, right after a decision on establishment of a council for execution of a death sentence is issued, the chairperson of the council shall assign a criminal judgment execution agency of a provincial-level Public Security Division or a military zone-level criminal judgment execution agency to formulate a plan on execution of the death sentence. Within 05 working days after a decision on establishment of a council for execution of a death sentence is issued, the chairperson of the council shall hold a meeting of the council. Venue and time of a meeting of the council shall be decided by the council chairperson.
Besides, a council for execution of a death sentence shall decide to postpone the execution of the death sentence in 02 following cases: A natural disaster or fire or another external obstacle occurs, making it impossible to execute the death sentence or the person sentenced to death encounters an accident and therefore needs to be hospitalized while being escorted to the location of execution of the death sentence; Equipment and tools for execution of the death sentence are damaged; veins of the persons sentenced to death cannot be found; lethal injection drug is not of proper category, quality or quantity, or other conditions for securing the execution of the death sentence are not satisfied.
In addition, delivery and receipt of corpses, bone ash or remains of executed persons may not be carried out at night time (from 22:00 hours to 6:00 hours of the next day). Burial of executed persons must satisfy local requirements on environmental sanitation, security and order and other relevant regulations.
This Joint Circular takes effect on December 01, 2020.