Vietnam on this date in 2013 made its first-ever use of lethal injection for the execution of Nguyen Anh Tuan. Anh Tuan robbed and murdered a woman in 2009.
The new execution method was scheduled to take effect July 1, 2011, fully replacing the firing squad, but had a delayed rollout.
As in its country of birth, America, the needle-and-gurney contraption was afflicted by by shortages of the killing drugs. The European Union’s unwillingness to permit import for use in capital punishment eventually led Vietnam to arrange for local production instead.
Vietnam’s annual execution toll unofficially runs into the dozens.
On this day..
- 1915: A day in the death penalty (and lynch law) around the U.S.
- 1819: Nathan Foster, wife-killer and patriot-killer
- 1718: Purry Moll and Elizabeth Cave
- 1859: Ratu Mara Kapaiwai, Fiji warrior
- 1883: James Burton, William Marwood's last
- 1788: John and Robert Winter, father and son
- Corpses Strewn: All in the Family
- 1936: Josep Sunyol, FC Barcelona President
- 1759: Eugene Aram, philologist
- 1942: Janusz Korczak and his orphans
- 1795: Pomp, a Negro
- 1628: Johannes Junius "will never see you more"
- 1890: William Kemmler, only in America
Four years from crime to execution. While still a long time for justice to be served, it certainly beats anything in America, where criminals wait decades to be finally executed and most likely will die of natural causes before their execution is carried out.