Joint Circular No. 04/TTLN guiding the application of the statute of limitations for criminal judgments

JOINT CIRCULAR

of the Supreme People's Court, the Supreme People's Procuratorate, the Ministry of Justice,

the Ministry of Interior Decision No. 04/TTLN dated December 26, 1986 guiding

the application of the statute of limitations for enforcing criminal judgments

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To implement Article 46 of the Criminal Code regarding the statute of limitations for enforcing criminal judgments accurately and consistently, the Supreme People's Court, the Supreme People's Procuratorate, the Ministry of Interior, and the Ministry of Justice provide guidance as follows:

I - MEANING OF THE PROVISION ON THE STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS FOR ENFORCING CRIMINAL JUDGMENTS

In principle, all judgments that have become legally effective must be enforced strictly, so the People's Courts, the People's Procuratorates, and the police agencies must fully perform their functions and duties and closely cooperate with each other to ensure that those convicted comply fully with the decisions of the judgment. However, in practice, there are also some cases where due to the negligence of enforcement agencies, some judgments are forgotten or lost, and not enforced. If over a long period, the person convicted has lived honestly, not committed new crimes, and not evaded the law, it is unnecessary to compel them to enforce the judgment anymore. Therefore, the law stipulates the statute of limitations for enforcing criminal judgments as the time limit during which the judgment remains enforceable; after this period, if the judgment has not been enforced, it will no longer be enforceable. This provision reflects the humanitarian nature of our state towards those convicted.

The application of the statute of limitations for enforcing criminal judgments must be strict to prevent any loopholes or negative phenomena during implementation.

II - CONDITIONS FOR A PERSON SENTENCED TO PRISON TO BE ELIGIBLE FOR THE STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS FOR ENFORCING THE JUDGMENT

According to Clause 1 of Article 46 of the Criminal Code, a person sentenced to prison shall not be required to enforce the judgment when they meet the following three conditions:

1. Starting from the date the judgment becomes legally effective (the date of the first-instance judgment being simultaneously final; the expiration date of appeal or protest if the first-instance judgment is not appealed or protested; the date of the appellate judgment or the expiration date of appeal in absentia^(*) for the person who was absent at the appellate hearing),

(*) The Criminal Procedure Code does not specify the procedure for appeal in absentia.

a) Five years for cases where the sentence is five years or less;

b) Ten years for cases where the sentence is more than five years but not more than fifteen years;

c) Fifteen years for cases where the sentence is more than fifteen years but not more than twenty years.

For judgments involving combined sentences from multiple judgments, the basis for calculating the statute of limitations is the combined sentence and the statute of limitations starts from the date the judgment becomes legally effective. If a judgment involves multiple persons convicted, each person is subject to a separate statute of limitations corresponding to their sentence.

According to Article 44 of the Criminal Code, a person granted suspended sentence who does not commit a new crime during the probationary period shall have their conviction automatically expunged.^(**)Therefore, the five-year statute of limitations for enforcing the judgment does not apply to a person granted suspended sentence; instead, if they do not commit a new crime during the probationary period, the prison sentence will not be enforced against them.

(***) Amended and supplemented according to the Law Amending and Supplementing Certain Articles of the Criminal Code on December 28, 1989...

2. Within the aforementioned periods, the person convicted does not receive a new punishment for a new crime. If they receive a new punishment for a new crime, the statute of limitations is calculated based on the new judgment including the combined new punishment with the old sentence. If the new crime only results in a warning, the statute of limitations for the old judgment continues to run from the date the old judgment became legally effective.

3. Within the aforementioned periods, the person convicted does not intentionally evade enforcement of the judgment and does not have an arrest warrant issued. If they intentionally evade and have an arrest warrant issued, the evasion period is not counted, and the statute of limitations will restart from the date the person surrenders or is apprehended. Intentional evasion includes concealing their address, hiding to prevent enforcement agencies from knowing their whereabouts, or fleeing abroad.

The statute of limitations for enforcing a judgment applies only to judgments that have become legally effective but were not enforced due to being forgotten or lost. In cases where a person convicted is temporarily exempted from enforcing the judgment for a certain period, after the exemption period ends, they must enforce the judgment. However, for those who commit minor offenses, sentenced to five years or less imprisonment, due to illness, childbirth, or extremely difficult circumstances, repeatedly granted temporary exemptions, and the total exemption period equals the statute of limitations without committing new crimes and no longer posing a danger to society, the court may decide to exempt them from serving the prison sentence. In cases where the judgment is delayed in enforcement but requires repeated temporary exemptions upon enforcement, the period before the judgment is enforced is also included in the temporary exemption period. In cases where a person convicted is temporarily suspended from serving the sentence, the remaining portion of the sentence is handled similarly to the case of temporary exemption.

III - APPLICATION OF THE STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS FOR OTHER PRINCIPAL PUNISHMENTS, ADDITIONAL PUNISHMENTS, AND COMPENSATION

1. Point a of Clause 1 of Article 46 does not mention fines, non-custodial reeducation, or disciplinary units of the military, but these punishments are lighter than imprisonment, so they are applied with the statute of limitations for enforcing judgments similar to cases of imprisonment for five years or less.

In cases where the judgment has been enforced, but the person convicted lacks the ability to pay the fine, has been granted multiple temporary exemptions, and since the judgment became legally effective, ten years have passed and the person still lacks the ability to pay, the provincial, municipal, or central special zone People's Committee confirms this, then the court will consider exempting them from enforcing the punishment.

2. When the principal punishment has exceeded the statute of limitations, the additional punishment will not be enforced.

For additional punishments such as restriction or residence prohibition, the enforcement period starts from the completion date of the imprisonment. If from that date, the time required to enforce the additional punishment has expired, the person convicted will no longer need to enforce the additional punishment; if the time required to enforce the additional punishment still remains, they will only need to enforce the remaining portion.

3. The law has not specified a statute of limitations for civil judgments, therefore, it does not apply to decisions on compensation in criminal judgments. However, if the person responsible for compensation lacks the ability to compensate, has been granted multiple temporary suspensions, and since the criminal judgment became legally effective more than ten years ago, they still lack the ability to compensate, then the court may exempt them from compensation obligations to the state or collective. For private damages compensation, such exemption must be agreed upon by the party suffering the loss.

IV- SITUATIONS WHERE THE STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS IS NOT APPLICABLE

1. According to Clause 2, Article 46 of the Criminal Code, those convicted of particularly dangerous offenses against national security shall be sentenced to imprisonment for up to fifteen years, and those sentenced to imprisonment for between fifteen and twenty years, regardless of the offense, may have the statute of limitations not applied if there are special reasons, as concluded by the Supreme People's Procuracy and the Supreme People's Court. Special reasons may include that the convicted individual poses a very serious threat to political security or social order (such as masterminds, leaders of counter-revolutionary organizations, individuals with numerous crimes, professional hooligans, etc.) and continues to show opposition.

2. The provisions regarding the statute of limitations for criminal judgments apply to both judgments that became effective before and after January 1, 1986.

V. IMPLEMENTATION

1. Provincial and district-level People's Courts need to review all unexecuted criminal judgments under their responsibility, categorizing them into: immediate execution; temporary suspension; exemption from punishment or enjoyment of the statute of limitations. The People's Court, People's Procuracy, and Public Security organs should exchange and agree on these lists, then each organ will carry out tasks within its functions and responsibilities. Those who must be immediately executed will be ordered to be arrested for execution by the court. Those granted temporary suspension or exemption from punishment will have the court issue a decision. Decisions exempting from punishment shall be signed by the President of the Provincial People's Court. If the convicted individual enjoys the statute of limitations for the judgment, the court shall notify them.

In cases where the three organs do not agree on the handling approach, each organ must report to its superior authority along the vertical line for resolution by the higher authority.

Each organ shall submit the list of categorized convicted individuals mentioned above to its superior authority along the vertical line by June 30, 1987.

2. Along with reviewing unexecuted criminal judgments, provincial and district-level People's Courts, People's Prosecution Offices, and Public Security organs must regularly perform their functions well in enforcement work. Every three months, each organ must report to its direct superior about cases of temporary suspension, exemption from punishment, or enjoyment of the statute of limitations.

3. Individuals who have enjoyed the statute of limitations for judgment execution and wish to have their record expunged shall follow the procedures for record expungement as guided in Joint Circular No. 02-TTLN dated August 1, 1986.

People's Courts, People's Prosecution Offices, local Public Security organs, and Military Courts, Military Prosecution Offices need to study and implement this Joint Circular accurately. If there are unclear issues, they should promptly report to the leadership of their respective central sectors for further guidance.