NATIONAL ASSEMBLY DISCUSSES PRISONER AMNESTY, REORGANIZES

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 HANOI 000720 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR EAP/MLS AND DRL/AWH E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM VM SUBJECT: NATIONAL ASSEMBLY DISCUSSES PRISONER AMNESTY, REORGANIZES ITSELF DURING SHORTENED SPRING SESSION REFS: A) 06 HANOI 3012; B) HANOI 535 HANOI 00000720 001.2 OF 002 Summary -------------- ¶1. (SBU) The National Assembly (NA) convened March 20 for its 11th and final session prior to its May 20 elections. Prior to wrapping up its abridged spring session on April 2, the legislature debated a new draft Amnesty Law and, in discussions with the Office of the Government and the Ministry of Public Security, agreed on an unprecedented July general amnesty, which is reportedly meant to coincide with President Triet's planned visit to the United States. The NA also took modest steps to reorganize itself and mandated an increase in the number of full-time NA deputies from 25 percent to 30 percent of the total of 500 legislators. This self-reorganization tracks with other NA efforts to carve out a more prominent role for itself in the areas of government accountability, oversight and anti-corruption efforts. End Summary. Amnesty Tied to Triet Visit? -------------- ¶2. (SBU) During its shortened spring session, the Assembly debated the first draft of a new Amnesty Law, which would essentially codify what is already in the Vietnamese Constitution. However, according to contacts in the Assembly, there continue to be differences in opinion between the legislature and the Office of the Government (OOG). For example, the NA would like to consider irregularly scheduled amnesties, while the OOG wants to maintain the current practice of amnesties tied to major national holidays. The Amnesty Law will be taken up again when the next National Assembly sits in the fall of 2007. ¶3. (SBU) Furthermore, the NA, the OOG and the Ministry of Public Security (MPS) recently agreed to schedule a July 2007 general amnesty for prisoners. This was reportedly done "to coincide with the visit of President Triet to the United States - as a 'gift' to President Bush," one contact said. The GVN generally conducts general amnesties or sentence reductions on the occasion of the Lunar New Year (January-February),Victory Day (late April) and Independence Day (early September),and an amnesty in July would be unprecedented. (Note: The exact date, and possible beneficiaries, remains TBD. End Note.) National Assembly Reorganizes -------------- ¶4. (SBU) The NA also agreed to split two existing committees into four: the existing Legal Committee will become the new "Law Committee" and the "Committee for Judiciary Affairs," while the Committee on Economic and Budgetary Affairs will become the new "Economic Committee" and the "Financial and Budgetary Committee." The new committee structure reportedly will allow for greater efficiency and enhanced NA oversight of agencies and GVN programs. Due to this new structure, the next National Assembly will need to be staffed by a greater percentage of full-time legislators, and the legislature decided to increase to 30 percent its ratio of full-time members. (Note: Currently, 25 percent of the NA's total of 500 deputies are full-timers. End Note.) This increase will cover personnel for the two new committees as well as a larger National Assembly Standing Committee. ¶5. (SBU) According to a briefing by Tran The Vuong, Vice Chairman of the NA's Legal Committee, the new Judiciary Committee is expected to help strengthen the independence of the court system and better monitor the activities of the Supreme People's Procuracy, the government's main investigation and prosecution arm. The plan is for the Supreme People's Procuracy to ultimately re-structure and establish a new regional court system, Vuong explained. Furthermore, the NA is hoping its new Judiciary Committee will take on a much greater oversight role on government anti-corruption initiatives. According to Vuong, the newly established economic and finance committees reflect post-WTO accession realities and the sheer volume of work resulting from Vietnam's tremendous economic growth and restructuring in the last five years, as well as the increase in foreign investment and resulting need for greater regulation and oversight. Comment -------------- ¶6. (SBU) The National Assembly appears committed to continuing to carve out a larger role for itself in the areas of public accountability, government program oversight and anti-corruption. As our Assembly contacts often say, one way to do this is to increase the NA's overall expertise, professionalism and "policy sense" by raising the percentage of full-time legislators. We HANOI 00000720 002.2 OF 002 expect the NA to make efforts to further increase this percentage, as well as seek opportunities -- including by working with donor countries -- to expand and professionalize the cadre of legislative assistants and other staffers. End Comment. ALOISI