Does the defender have to be a lawyer?

According to the provisions of Article 33 of the Criminal Procedure Law, entrusted by a criminal suspect or defendant, there are two kinds of people, except lawyers, who can act as defenders: one is a people's organization or personnel recommended by the unit to which the criminal suspect or defendant belongs; Second, guardians, relatives and friends of criminal suspects and defendants. According to the law, as long as criminal suspects and defendants want to entrust defenders, they can basically do so, regardless of objective factors such as economic conditions. At the same time, the choice of defenders is wide, and criminal suspects and defendants can choose suitable people as their own defenders according to their own conditions. It should be noted that the law also makes some exclusionary provisions for non-lawyer defenders. For example, people who are being punished by criminal punishment or who are deprived or restricted of personal freedom according to law, as well as people with no capacity or limited capacity, may not act as defenders; For another example, foreigners and stateless persons may not act as defenders unless they are guardians or close relatives of criminal suspects and defendants, employees of people's courts, people's procuratorates and public security organs, and people who have an interest in the trial results of this case.