Criminal liability of the defendants for perjury under the law of Vietnam and lessons learnt from the United States

Abstract

In the inquisitorial system, the defendants are often supposed to have the “right to lie” because their false testimonies do not result in any legal consequences. However, the perjury of the defendants may harm the effectiveness and the seriousness of the court trial, especially when the defendants are empowered with the right to silence under the 2015 Criminal Procedure Code. The paper analyses the criminal liability for perjury under the current law of Vietnam and points out the necessity to put the criminal liability for perjury on the defendants after empowering them with the right to silence. It also introduces the law of the US on this issue. The paper then offers some recommendations to improve the law of Vietnam in this regard.