Anyone who is investigated for criminal responsibility by judicial organs has the right to plead and defend the accused crime without guilt, light punishment, mitigation or exemption. This is a criminal defense.
The right to defense is a basic right of criminal suspects and defendants, and it is also a basic constitutional right. In fact, the right to defense is not only the right of criminal suspects and defendants, but also a basic right of every citizen and everyone. Because in theory, everyone can be charged with a crime. Therefore, everyone needs and enjoys the right to defense.
2. Can the parties defend themselves?
The right to defense is the basic right of every citizen, every person, every criminal suspect and every defendant. According to the law, the parties can exercise their right to defense by themselves, or they can entrust lawyers and other citizens permitted by law to defend on their behalf.
3. Does anyone have the right to ask a lawyer to defend?
According to the laws of our country, no matter he is a senior official or an ordinary citizen, no matter he is a noble person or a "bad guy" full of evil, once he is charged with a criminal offence, he has the right to defend himself during the criminal proceedings and hire a lawyer to defend him. For example, criminal issues can be defended by criminal defense lawyers.
4. What are criminal suspects and criminal defendants? Are criminal suspects and defendants "bad guys"?
Simply put, the person accused of a criminal offence is a criminal suspect or defendant. According to the law, they have different titles at different stages. In the stage of criminal investigation and the stage of examination and prosecution, that is, before the procuratorial organ brings a lawsuit to the people's court, it is called a criminal suspect; After a procuratorial organ brings a lawsuit to a people's court, it is called a criminal defendant. Without the judgment of the people's court, neither the criminal suspect nor the criminal defendant is regarded as a crime. Therefore, criminal suspects and defendants should not be called "crimes", let alone "bad guys". Because many people accused of criminal offences may be acquitted by the court.
5. What rights do criminal suspects and defendants enjoy in criminal proceedings?
According to the laws of China, the rights enjoyed by criminal suspects and defendants mainly include:
(1) the right to self-defense;
(2) the right to hire a lawyer to provide legal help;
(3) The right to free legal aid under prescribed conditions;
(4) Have the right to appeal and accuse judicial personnel of violating their rights;
(5) Have the right to request the judges who have tried their own cases to withdraw;
(6) the right of appeal against the judgment and the right of appeal;
(7) The right not to be illegally detained, arrested or detained for an extended period, and so on.
6. Can a criminal suspect hire a lawyer at the investigation stage? What can an attorney do?
(1) A criminal suspect may hire a lawyer to provide him with legal advice, complaints and accusations after being interrogated for the first time by the investigation organ or from the date when compulsory measures are taken.
(2) After the suspect is arrested, the lawyer hired can apply for bail pending trial.
(3) The entrusted lawyer has the right to know the charges charged by the criminal suspect from the investigation organ, and can meet with the criminal suspect in custody and get relevant information from the criminal suspect.
(4) If a criminal suspect is extorted by torture or detained for an extended period of time, the entrusted lawyer may appeal and accuse him on his behalf.
7. When can I hire a lawyer?
The time to hire a lawyer varies from case to case.
If it is a public prosecution case (a case investigated and prosecuted by the public security and procuratorial organs), in the investigation stage, the criminal suspect has the right to entrust a lawyer after being interrogated for the first time by the investigation organ or from the date when compulsory measures are taken. In the review stage and the trial stage, criminal suspects and defendants have the right to entrust defenders from the date when the relevant procuratorial organs and courts accept the case.
If it is a case of private prosecution (a case in which the private prosecutor directly files a criminal complaint with the people's court and the people's court directly files a case for trial), they have the right to entrust a defender at any time.
8. Who can be a criminal defender?
According to China law, lawyers can act as defenders. In addition, people's organizations or personnel recommended by the criminal suspect or defendant's unit, as well as guardians, relatives and friends of the criminal suspect or defendant, can also serve as defenders as long as they have not been executed or deprived of personal freedom according to law. Criminal defense lawyers are undoubtedly very suitable defenders in criminal cases.
9. What is the difference between lawyers as defenders and ordinary citizens as defenders?
A lawyer refers to a legal service person who has obtained a specialized practice qualification and holds a valid practice certificate and works in a corresponding lawyer's work institution (usually a law firm). There are two main differences between hiring lawyers and hiring ordinary citizens to defend:
First of all, lawyers enjoy some rights in criminal proceedings that other defenders do not. For example, meeting with criminal suspects and defendants in custody; Access to case files; Investigate and collect evidence from witnesses. It is not that lawyers' defenders do not enjoy these rights, or the exercise of these rights is restricted.
Second, as professionals, lawyers' legal professional level and litigation technical level are generally higher than those of non-professional defenders.
Therefore, entrusting lawyers to defend criminal cases is more conducive to safeguarding the legitimate rights and interests of criminal suspects and defendants.
10, what should I do if I have no money to hire a lawyer because I am poor?
If you can't afford a lawyer because you are poor, it doesn't mean that you can't get the help of a lawyer. Our country has a special "legal aid system" to help those who can't afford a lawyer. According to the relevant provisions of the Criminal Procedure Law, if the defendant fails to entrust a defender due to financial difficulties, the people's court may appoint a lawyer who undertakes the obligation of legal aid to defend him free of charge; If the defendant is blind, deaf, dumb or a minor and may be sentenced to death without a defender, the people's court must appoint a defense lawyer for him free of charge.
(3) The entrusted lawyer has the right to know the charges charged by the criminal suspect from the investigation organ, and can meet with the criminal suspect in custody and get relevant information from the criminal suspect.
(4) If a criminal suspect is extorted by torture or detained for an extended period of time, the entrusted lawyer may appeal and accuse him on his behalf.
1 1. Will lawyers serve their clients wholeheartedly? Can he guarantee the success of the defense?
Lawyers perform their legal service duties according to law. All the actions of lawyers are based on laws and facts, and safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of the parties. Lawyers shall, within the scope permitted by law, strive to put forward defense opinions on innocence, light crime, mitigation or exemption from punishment for the parties, and provide them to the judicial organs handling cases to protect the legitimate rights and interests of the parties to the maximum extent.
Of course, all the defense work of lawyers must be based on facts and laws. Lawyers can't meet the requirements of illegal parties. For example, destroying or falsifying evidence. At the same time, lawyers cannot guarantee the success of the defense. The lawyer's job is to put forward correct and effective defense opinions, not to make judgments on cases.
12. Will the lawyer reveal the personal privacy of the client?
In the process of providing legal services, lawyers may obtain some secret information such as personal privacy, family and business of criminal suspects and defendants. According to the law, lawyers can't disclose this information to others. This is the lawyer's duty of confidentiality stipulated by law, and it is also the basic requirement of lawyer's professional ethics.
13. What rights do defense lawyers enjoy in criminal proceedings?
Defense lawyers enjoy many litigation rights in the process of criminal proceedings, and the more important rights include:
(1) Right to investigate and collect evidence. Defense lawyers can not only collect evidence from relevant units and individuals, but also investigate and collect evidence from victims and their families.
(2) the right to meet. Defense lawyers have the right to meet with criminal suspects and defendants in custody and to correspond with them.
(3) the right to read papers. Defense lawyers have the right to consult, extract and copy legal documents and case files related to this case in courts and procuratorates.
(4) the right to appear in court. At the hearing, the lawyer has the right to appear in court to defend the defendant.
(5) When the rights of criminal suspects and defendants are violated, they have the right to lodge complaints, accusations and objections.
14. What are the legal obligations of defense lawyers?
Defense lawyers (such as criminal defense lawyers) not only enjoy legal litigation rights, but also undertake legal obligations. According to the law, defense lawyers are not allowed to help criminal suspects and defendants conceal, destroy, forge evidence or collude with confessions, threaten or induce witnesses to change their testimony or commit perjury, and are not allowed to engage in other acts that hinder judicial procedures.