Vietnamese President to grant amnesty for prisoners
10/12/2008 16:27
Vietnamese President Nguyen Minh Triet has decided to grant special
amnesty for prisoners on the occasion of the country's Lunar New Year festival
2009 and the 79th anniversary of the Vietnamese Communist Party, the local
newspaper Liberty Sai Gon reported yesterday.
Those eligible for the
country's amnesty include prisoners who have completed at least one-third of
their sentences and have obeyed detention camp regulations, are enthusiastic to
learn and work and are not thought to pose a risk to social order and security
if they go free, said the decision.
Prisoners who have served at least
one-fourth of their sentences and life-sentenced prisoners who have spent at
least 12 years in jail are eligible for amnesty if they have achieved special
feats recognized by the local prison or detention camp, said the
decision.
The amnesty also includes people who made achievements in the
national resistance wars and holders of awards such as Vietnamese Hero of the
Armed Forces, Labor Hero or those related to war martyrs. The amnesty is granted
to prisoners who are children of Vietnamese Heroic Mothers and of families, who
have made contributions to the national resistance wars, said the
decision.
Those eligible for the amnesty are prisoners who have serious or
chronic diseases, teenagers, those of 70 years old or above, have families in
particularly difficult circumstances or are the only breadwinner in the family,
said the decision.
According to the decision, pregnant prisoners or women
with children under 36 months old are also eligible for the
amnesty.
Xinhua
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