Vietnam Court Sentences 11 to Death for Drug Smuggling from Laos
A court in Vietnam’s capital, Hanoi, has sentenced 11 individuals to death for drug smuggling across the Laos border. Among the defendants were two police officers, highlighting the severity of the case in a country known for its strict anti-drug laws.
Reported by Kokcha News Agency:
A court in Hanoi has handed down death sentences to 11 individuals convicted of smuggling drugs, including 140 kilograms of methamphetamine and other narcotics, from Laos into Vietnam. The trial, which lasted two days, concluded that the defendants were involved in a large-scale drug trafficking operation.
Among the convicted was 42-year-old Nguyen Thi Kim Huong, the alleged leader of the smuggling ring. However, Huong was given a life sentence instead of the death penalty, reportedly due to her role as a caregiver for a child.
Vietnam’s Strict Anti-Drug Laws
Vietnam maintains some of the world’s harshest penalties for drug-related crimes. Despite abolishing the death penalty for eight crimes, including espionage, corruption, and attempts to overthrow the government in June 2024, drug trafficking remains a capital offense.
Earlier this year, a Vietnamese court sentenced 27 people to death for smuggling 626 kilograms of drugs from Cambodia into Vietnam.
Execution Methods
Until 2013, Vietnam carried out executions by firing squad. However, over the past 12 years, the country has shifted to lethal injection as the method of execution.
Number of Death Row Inmates
While Vietnam does not publicly disclose the number of executions, Amnesty International estimates that as of the end of 2023, there were over 1,200 individuals on death row in the country.
