Amnesty is a major policy of the Party and State, manifesting the fine tradition of the nation in strictly handling of those who violate the law while giving clemency and humanitarian treatment to prisoners who really rehabilitate themselves and wish to return to society as an useful citizen, according to Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh.

Between 2009 and 2016, under the Amnesty Law 2007, the State carried out seven amnesties on the occasion of major and important events of the country, which benefited more than 87,000 people, noted Deputy PM Pham in his recent article on the occasion of the President signing a decision to grant amnesty to 3,035 prisoners.

Pham, who is also head of the Advisory Council on Amnesty 2021, underlined that this year’s amnesty  is not only the first one implemented in conformity with the Amnesty Law 2018, but also the first after the 13th National Party Congress and the elections of deputies to the 15th National Assembly and all-level People’s Councils in the 2021-2026 tenure, reflecting the consistent policy of the Party and State in promoting and protecting human rights.

This year’s amnesty is implemented amid complicated COVID-19 developments, which have caused difficulties in the verification of prisoners’ documents in localities as well as the preparations for both released prisoners and the localities receiving them in line with pandemic prevention and control regulations. However, the work has been carried out in a prompt and scientific manner as scheduled, demonstrating the high determination of the whole political system in implementing this important mission.

According to the Deputy PM, immediately after the President signed Decision 1161/2021/QD-CTN on amnesty in 2021 on June 30, relevant agencies have quickly rolled out the implementation process. The Advisory Council on Amnesty has held many meetings to consider each case submitted for amnesty in an impartial manner, to ensure that all the cases submitted to the President for amnesty meet all requirements and legal regulations. The motto of the work is to prevent leaving out eligible prisoners and ensure fairness for all prisoners, including those with foreign nationalities.

“The consistent policy of our Party and State is to protect and promote human rights in a fair and equal manner for all citizens, including those who are undertaking imprisonment sentences. The general policy is to create optimal conditions for prisoners in the rehabilitating process, and amnesty would be the highest encouragement for them to improve themselves and repent,” he stressed.

Reality has proved that legal regulations of Viet Nam always ensure all rights of all people regardless of their nationality, he underlined, adding that this is strong evidence to refute the untrue arguments and distorted information given by individuals and organizations with bad intentions to deliberately spread groundless information on the human rights situation in Viet Nam.

The consideration of granting amnesty to foreigners on the basis of fairness and transparency has also helped the international community better understand the policies of the Vietnamese Party and State, Deputy PM Pham emphasized.

With the President’s decision, thousands of prisoners will enjoy the happiness of returning to their family and having another chance to rebuild their life.

“This is the strongest hallmark of humanity of the amnesty policy, manifesting the priority of ensuring and promoting human rights in all guidelines and policies of our Party and State,” he concluded.