Under the
Law on Legal Aid of Vietnam the persons entitled to legal aid are: (i) Poor
people; (ii) People with meritorious services to the revolution; (iii) Lonely
elderly people, disabled people and helpless children and (iv) Ethnic minority
people permanently residing in areas with exceptionally difficult
socio-economic conditions.
At
present, the Law on Legal Aid is silent on the availability of the free legal
aid to foreign nationals. However, this Law states that when a treaty to which
Vietnam is a contracting party contains any provisions different from those of
this Law, the provisions of that treaty shall apply. Therefore, this will
depend on whether Vietnam and the country where the foreigner has citizenship have
signed any legal aid treaty on criminal matters or not.
However,
under specific circumstances (i.e. the committed person being minors or persons
with physical or mental defects, with offenses punishable by death as the
highest penalty), the free legal aid will be applied in the form of “appointed
lawyer” when the committed person or their lawful representatives do not seek
the assistance of defense counsel. In this case, the investigating body,
procuracy body or court must request the bar associations to assign a law firm
to appoint a defense counsel for such person.