Can a person with a serious illness have their suspended sentence reduced?

Reply:

According to Article 1 of Resolution 02/2018/NQ-HDTP of the Supreme People's Court's Judicial Council: Suspended sentence is a measure of conditional exemption from serving a prison sentence, applied by the Court to criminals sentenced to imprisonment for no more than 03 years, based on the criminal's personal background and mitigating circumstances, it is deemed unnecessary to force them to serve a prison sentence.

- In Clause 4, Article 8, Resolution 02/2018/NQ-HDTP dated May 15, 2018 of the Council of Judges of the Supreme People's Court stipulates the conditions for shortening the probation period of a suspended sentence as follows: In case the person enjoying a suspended sentence has made merits or has a serious illness and meets all the conditions guided in Clause 1 of this Article, the Court may decide to shorten the remaining probation period.

+Accomplishment is the case where the person serving a suspended sentence has taken actions to help the competent state agency detect, arrest, and investigate crimes; saved others in dangerous situations or saved property worth over 50 million VND of the State, collectives, and citizens in natural disasters, fires, epidemics, and accidents; had initiatives confirmed by competent state agencies or had outstanding achievements in labor, study, combat, and work that were commended and confirmed by competent state agencies.

+ Suffering from a serious illness is a case where a provincial hospital or a military hospital at the military region level or higher concludes that the person serving a suspended sentence is suffering from a life-threatening illness that is difficult to treat, such as: End-stage cancer, cirrhosis with ascites, severe drug-resistant tuberculosis grade 4, paralysis, heart failure grade 3, kidney failure grade 4 or higher; HIV in the AIDS stage with opportunistic infections, unable to take care of himself/herself, and at high risk of death.

Clause 1, Article 8, Resolution 02/2018/NQ-HDTP stipulatesDecision: A person serving a suspended sentence may have the District People's Court or Regional Military Court decide to shorten the probation period of the suspended sentence when all of the following conditions are met:

- Has served half of the probation period of the suspended sentence;

- There has been much progress shown by the fact that during the probation period, the person serving a suspended sentence has strictly complied with the law and obligations under the law.Law on Criminal Enforcement;Actively study, work, correct mistakes or make achievements in production and labor, protect national security and be rewarded by competent state agencies.

- The People's Committee at the commune level, the agency or organization assigned to supervise and educate the person serving a suspended sentence must request in writing to shorten the probation period.