Defender refers to a person who is entrusted by the accused or appointed by the people's court to help the criminal suspect and defendant exercise their right to defense in order to safeguard their legitimate rights and interests. Defenders can be lawyers, people's organizations or units where criminal suspects and defendants work, or guardians, relatives and friends of criminal suspects and defendants. But only a lawyer can be appointed to defend. Defenders have independent litigation status and are not subordinate to criminal suspects or defendants, nor to people's procuratorates or people's courts. The responsibility of the defender is to put forward materials and opinions to prove the innocence, light crime or reduce or exempt the criminal responsibility of the criminal suspect and defendant according to facts and laws, and to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of the criminal suspect and defendant.
Defender's defense system is of great significance for promoting and ensuring judicial justice and litigation democracy. The implementation of the defense system is conducive to the correct handling of cases by judicial organs, preventing the subjective one-sidedness of case handlers, thus avoiding the occurrence of unjust, false and wrong cases.
Defender defense system is conducive to public security and judicial organs to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of criminal suspects and defendants. In criminal proceedings, because criminal suspects and defendants are in the position of being prosecuted, their personal freedom is often restricted, and they can't fully and deeply understand the case, and they can't collect evidence materials that are beneficial to them, so it is difficult to exercise their right to self-defense; On the other hand, most criminal suspects and defendants lack legal knowledge, do not know what litigation rights they enjoy, how to exercise these rights, and do not know the legal consequences of their actions.
Article 33 of the Criminal Procedure Law of People's Republic of China (PRC) * * * A criminal suspect or defendant may entrust one or two persons as defenders in addition to exercising the right of defense by himself. The following persons may be entrusted as defenders:
(1) lawyers;
(2) A person recommended by a people's organization or the unit to which the criminal suspect or defendant belongs;
(3) Guardians, relatives and friends of criminal suspects and defendants.
A person who has been sentenced to punishment according to law or deprived of or restricted personal freedom shall not act as a defender.
A person who has been dismissed from public office or has his lawyer's or notary's practice certificate revoked may not act as a defender, except the guardian or near relative of the criminal suspect or defendant.