First death sentence by lethal injection from August 6

After a period of preparation, this morning, August 6, 2013, for the first time, Vietnamese authorities carried out the execution of death sentences using a new method: lethal injection.

According to PetroTimes' private source: The first death row inmate to be executed using the new method is Nguyen Anh Tuan (born in 1986, from Me Linh, Hanoi - Prison number: 2757A1).

On the morning of August 6, Nguyen Anh Tuan was taken to the execution site at the Hanoi Police Detention Center, completed all procedures and was injected with three lethal injections: anesthesia; paralysis of the nervous system, muscles and cardiac arrest.

Nguyen Anh Tuan (middle) when on trial in court.

By 10am, the execution was completed. Death row inmate Nguyen Anh Tuan's body will be handed over to his family for burial.

Nguyen Anh Tuan was sentenced to death by the Hanoi People's Court on January 20, 2010 for two crimes: "murder" and "robbery."

Previously, an accomplice in the case, Nguyen Hai Hoan, committed suicide in prison before being brought to trial.

The victim of the two killers was Ms. Bui Thi Nguyet, born in 1981, a gas station employee. Around February 2009, Nguyen Hai Hoan and Nguyen Anh Tuan met the victim through a friend. After a few outings, Tuan learned that Ms. Nguyet often kept a lot of money in her wallet, hidden in the trunk of her car, so he planned to rob her. To carry out their plan, Tuan and Hoan discussed and on March 8 brought flowers to the girl to win her favor. Nguyet happily accepted the flowers, and two days later went out for coffee with Tuan and Hoan.

Three people rode a motorbike together to a coffee shop. On the way, Hoan suddenly put a knife to the girl's neck, threatened her, tied her hands with a rope, searched her phone and took 400,000 VND from her wallet. After a while, Ms. Nguyet asked to take off the rope to go to the toilet, Hoan suddenly stabbed her repeatedly in the back with a knife. Tuan helped by covering the victim's mouth so Hoan could kill her with a knife. They threw the girl's body into a nearby water tank. Nguyen Anh Tuan was arrested on June 21, 2009.

Place of execution in Hanoi Police Detention Center.

According to the National Assembly Resolution, from July 1, 2011, Vietnam will apply only one method of death penalty execution: lethal injection.

According to regulations, the drugs used for death row inmates include: anesthesia; paralysis of the nervous system, muscles and cardiac arrest. These three types of drugs are provided by the Ministry of Health at the request of the Ministry of Public Security and the Ministry of National Defense. Before being injected with lethal drugs by an automatic machine, death row inmates are allowed to write letters and record their last words...

However, in reality, the enforcement agencies have not been able to carry out lethal injections on death row inmates because they have not prepared adequate facilities.

The country currently has over 560 death row inmates. Of these, about 170 are eligible for execution by lethal injection.

Previously, the Ministry of Public Security had deployed and issued procedures and trained criminal enforcement teams in the police and military forces to apply the new form of death penalty execution. Currently, many enforcement facilities in Hanoi, Son La, Nghe An, Dak Lak and Ho Chi Minh City have been built.

The difficulty we face is the supply of lethal injection drugs for death row inmates. Domestically produced drugs that meet standards cannot be produced and must be imported from abroad under strict procedures, at very high prices.

After many efforts to overcome difficulties, this morning, August 6, 2013, the execution of a death sentence by lethal injection was carried out for the first time.

According to Petrotimes - TH