Proposal for the death penalty for foodborne crimes.

"Food safety and hygiene crimes are very serious; they disregard everything and harm people's health, and human health cannot be bought with money. Therefore, we must consider increasing the sentence to life imprisonment for this crime, and even consider the highest penalty, the death penalty."

This proposal was put forward by National Assembly representative Thai Truong Giang during discussions on regulations concerning food safety and hygiene violations in the draft Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the 2015 Penal Code.

Delegate Le Thanh Van during the group discussion.

During the discussion in Group 7 on October 21st, delegate Thai Truong Giang commented that currently, the law does not include life imprisonment or the death penalty for food safety violations, only a maximum sentence of 20 years, which is unsatisfactory and the penalties should be increased.

Joining the discussion, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc agreed with this viewpoint and stated that unsafe food must be dealt with severely, as it is a form of "indirect murder".

The Prime Minister also mentioned the crime of illegal business practices under the guise of multi-level marketing, which is causing negative consequences for society, and which has led to the widespread emergence of deceptive advertising schemes...

The head of government proposed strict regulations to deal with these offenses.

Authorities in Nghe An province inspect food at various business establishments. (Photo: Archival image)

Meanwhile, according to delegate Le Thanh Van, is the abuse and usurpation of power a crime? A clear definition is needed, and it should be considered whether it should be included in the Penal Code.

According to this representative, many pressing issues have recently emerged in society, including the abuse of power, the appropriation of power for personal gain, and the use of power to appoint family members and relatives.

"This has been going on for a long time. There have always been people in power who appoint unqualified individuals, using their power in a disguised way, until the press exposes it, causing public outrage," Mr. Vân commented, citing the case of Trịnh Xuân Thanh as a prime example. Despite accumulating numerous violations, he was still appointed and transferred to various leadership positions.

According to Representative Vân, while clear provisions should be included in the Criminal Code, unclear provisions should not be included because they could easily lead to abuse of power by prosecuting authorities, resulting in wrongful convictions.

Nguyen Le/vneconomy