The Amnesty Consultation Council said that the list was created from a total of 15,402 dossiers proposed by jails across the country for the amnesty to mark the traditional Lunar New Year festival (Tet) and the 79^th founding anniversary of the Communist Party of Vietnam.

The short-listed inmates have paid more than VND85 billion in compensation charges for civil crimes, court charges and court-imposed fines in place of further punishment. One economic criminal has paid VND2.2 billion compensation for financial losses resulting from his crimes.

Addressing the closing session of the Amnesty Consultation Council’s meeting, Deputy Prime Minister Truong Vinh Trong, Chairman of the council, said that, since 1990, the Party and State have granted amnesty to more than 95,000 inmates, just six percent of whom have relapsed.