05 January 2004 :

Following international criticism about Vietnam's growing number of capital sentences, Prime Minister Phan Van Khai has listed the number of people condemned to death as a top state secret, an official said.
Khai also listed documents related to trials involving national security as top secret, said the official from the prime minister's office. That would include the files of several high-profile political and religious dissidents recently tried for espionage.
Khai also listed the guidelines and schedules of important and complicated trials as off limits, the official said. He did not elaborate.
Until recently, the head of the People's Supreme Court still presented the number of death sentences handed down by courts nationwide in an annual report to the National Assembly, which was broadcast live on national television.