The judicial and legislative work plays an important role in building a Socialist Rule of Law State of the people, by the people, and for the people. Over the years, under the leadership and direction by the Central Military Commission (CMC) and the Ministry of National Defence (MND), the entire Military has grasped the Party and State’s directives and resolutions on the judicial and legislative work and adopted measures for performing this work, thereby greatly contributing to preventing and combating crime and violations of law, strictly maintaining the Military’s discipline, and improving its combat strength.

Sr. Lt. Gen. Le Chiem inspecting the Corps 16’s judicial and legislative work in July 2019

The system of legal documents on the military-defence mission has been increasingly completed. The judicial and legislative work’s efficiency and effectiveness have been raised. Meanwhile, the judicial reform within the Military has been promoted and achieved a positive comprehensive change. Judicial, investigative, and legislative offices have been consolidated and closely cooperated with other offices and units in advising the CMC and the MND and performing their task. The awareness and responsibility of cadres and soldiers, particularly those in judicial and legislative offices towards the role and necessity of stepping up judicial and legislative reform within the Military have been significantly raised. The work of legal propagation, dissemination, and education has been widely and deeply conducted and helped raise cadres and soldiers’ legal awareness and law-abiding observance. Criminal procedure (initiation, investigation, prosecution, trial and enforcement of criminal judgments) has been closely carried out under law. Many key, complex cases have been investigated, prosecuted, and judged strictly and clearly, which has been highly appreciated by the military staff and the people.

However, the judicial and legislative work within the Military has exposed several weaknesses. The judicial reform has yet to achieve a breakthrough. Coordination between judicial and legislative offices in grasping, managing and settling criminal report and information has yet to be timely while the work of investigating, prosecuting, and judging several cases has yet to be effective. The work of legal propagation, dissemination, and education in some offices and units has yet to be relevant to reality. The cooperation between competent offices both inside and outside the Military in preventing and combating crime, particularly settling national defence land-related incidents has yet to be close.

In the upcoming years, our Party and State continue to enhance the judicial reform and the building of a socialist rule of law state. The task of military build-up and Homeland defence in the context of globalization and international integration will be met with difficulties and challenges. The development of social networks, the dark side of market economy, and the hostile forces’ sabotage plan will lead to many types of crime and directly impact on all tasks of the Military and its cadres and soldiers’ observance of law and discipline. To effectively prevent and fight against crime of all types and violations of law and military discipline, party committees and commands within the Military should focus on the following.

First, enhancing all-level party committees and commands’ leadership and direction over the judicial and legislative work.

Party committees and commands of offices and units, especially judicial and legislative ones should grasp the Party, State, CMC, and MND’s resolutions and directives on the judicial and legislative work, with emphasis placed on the 10^th Politburo’s Resolution 49-NQ/TW, dated June 2^nd 2005, on the Strategy for judicial reform towards 2020, the CMC’s Resolution 67/NQ-ĐUQSTW, dated March 8^th 2007, on leadership over the implementation of the Strategy for judicial reform within the Military towards 2020, and the MND’s judicial and legislative plans. Grounded on those documents, party committees should strengthen their leadership over the judicial, investigative, and legislative work and the operation of judicial and legislative offices within the Military. It is necessary to resolutely deal with poor leadership over and wrong intervention in the judicial and legislative operation. At the same time, it is important to continue stepping up the judicial reform, to carry out the judicial, investigative, and legislative work in a comprehensive, focalized manner, and to adhere to higher echelons’ directives and resolutions on this work and the Military’s political task in order to raise the quality of investigation, prosecution, trial, and enforcement of judgements.

Second, consolidating the organizational structure of judicial and legislative offices, effectively fighting against crime, and strictly maintaining the Military’s discipline.

Over the years, the number of violations of law and discipline within the Military has decreased, whereas the number of serious violations has increased. It is worth noting that there have appeared new, complex crimes, such as high-tech, economic crimes and the counterfeiting of documents. Thus, it is vital to step up the Project entitled “renewing the structure and operation of military judicial offices”, with a focus on rearranging and streamlining the system of judicial offices in accordance with the Military’s organizational structure and raising the efficiency and effectiveness of their operation. In the medium term, importance should be attached to consolidating the system of legislative organizations, commissions, and cadres in offices and units across the Military, particularly those under the provincial-level Military Commands and Border Guard Commands under the Defence Minister’s Decision 1111/QĐ-BQP, dated March 24^th 2016 on the establishment of legislative commissions and the structure of legislative cadres within the Military. Due regard should be paid to reviewing a contingent of judicial, investigative, and legislative cadres and a pool of cadres in charge of the legal work across the Military and developing the Project on “training legal cadres within the Military” and the plans to recruit and train prosecutors and judges at all levels. At the same time, it is essential to hold training courses on new legal, specialized issues and to build a corps of judicial, investigative, and legislative cadres within the Military with proper structure and high quality. Judicial and legislative cadres must have political zeal, pure professional morality, high-level professional competence, good military-defence knowledge, and scientific working method.

Following the CMC’s Plan 815-KH/QUTW, dated November 10^th 2016, on implementing the Party Central Secretariat’s Decision on stepping up the 10^th Politburo’s Directive 48-CT/TW, dated October 25^th 2010 on enhancing the Party’s leadership over crime prevention and combat in the new situation, the Military’s judicial and legislative offices should cooperate with the State’s relevant judicial and legislative offices in exchanging information, grasping and managing the crime situation relating to the Military, identifying the reasons, forecasting the situation, and opportunely advising all-level party committees and commands on crime and legal violation prevention and combat. At the same time, great value should be attached to raising the quality of investigation, prosecution, trial, and enforcement of judgements so as to handle cases properly and avoid missing criminals out, particularly key, extremely serious, complex cases. Due attention should be paid to well executing the Project on fighting against and preventing negative practices in the judicial operation and legal violations in the work of crime prevention and control and law enforcement within the Military from happening.

Third, continuing to develop and complete the system of legal normative documents on the military-defence mission. The MND’s competent offices, particularly its Department of Legal Affairs should adhere to the Party’s guidelines, the State’s law and policy, and the military-defence task, review, study, build, supplement, and complete the system of legal documents on the military-defence mission. It is important to well execute the MND’s Action Plan 11685/KH-BQP, dated November 22^nd 2016 for the CMC Standing Board’s Directive 407-CT/QUTW, dated June 24^th 2016 on further building and completing the system of legal documents relating to the military-defence task and the cipher work, the MND’s Program for drawing up legal normative documents, the Government and Prime Minister’s Plan for drawing up legal normative documents between 2019 and 2020, and the work of drawing up documents on detailed regulations for the enforcement of laws. To that end, sectors and organizations should foster coordination in building, appraising, and completing legal normative documents, frequently closely control the process of building, promulgating, amending, and supplementing the MND’s legal normative documents, and opportunely report and propose the repeal, amendment, and supplementation of documents which are no longer appropriate or contrary to the State’s law. The MND’s Department of Legal Affairs should cooperate with offices and units in the work of codification under the MND’s responsibility. In the medium term, focuses should be placed on completing modification of national defence and Coast Guard legal documents, giving instructions on the use of modifications, and integrating them into the portal webs of the MND and offices and units.

Fourth, renewing and improving the quality of legal propagation, dissemination, and education in order to create a positive change in cadres and soldiers’ law-abiding awareness.

Judicial offices should closely cooperate with other offices and units across the Military in implementing the plans, programs, and projects on legal dissemination and education so as to render troops fully aware of the law’s regulations, violations of law, and crime of all types, to raise their vigilance, and to help them proactively prevent and combat crime. Offices and units should renew and diversify forms and methods of legal propagation and education in accordance with each group of troops, combine legal education with political education, ideological management, and discipline management, ensure troops’ mental and material life, and create a favourable condition for them to keep their mind on their work within the Military. At the same time, significance should be attached to strictly executing the “Legal Study Day”, multiplying and promoting “Legal Bookcases”, encouraging the role of creative, effective models in legal dissemination, such as “Soldiers’ mental and legal consultation”, “One legal question everyday”, and “Studying one article of law on a weekly basis”. Consideration should be given to organizing legal knowledge contests, releasing documents on living skills, and building banks of legal questions to draw cadres and soldiers’ attention. Party committees and commands of offices and units should frequently inform troops about violations of discipline and law to troops, draw lessons, and orientate their troops’ ideology. Military press agencies should continue to renew and improve the quality of columns on legal propagation, dissemination, and education, while stepping up the work of propagation and information of judicial task and reform across the Military.

In addition to the above-mentioned measures, judicial and legislative offices within the Military should actively take part in formulating and completing the policies on judicial expertise, legal assistance, and criminal record in order to raise the awareness of soldiers and cadres in charge of the judicial work as the basis for them to fulfil their assigned task. Moreover, due regard should be paid to providing sufficient facilities, equipment, and means, constructing or upgrading judicial offices’ headquarters, prisons, and detention centres. Great value should be attached to promoting international cooperation in preventing and fighting against foreign crime and international terrorism.

Raising the Military’s judicial and legislative work is a task of urgency and importance to stringently maintaining the Military’s standard order and discipline and providing an important basis for enhancing its synergy and combat power to fulfil any assigned task.

Sr. Lt. Gen. Le Chiem, Member of the Party Central Committee

Member of the CMC, Deputy Minister of National Defence