As a defender of criminal cases, a lawyer shall, according to facts and laws, put forward materials and opinions on the defendant's innocence, light crime or reduction or exemption of his criminal responsibility, so as to safeguard the defendant's legitimate rights and interests.
People's Republic of China (PRC) Lawyers Law
Article 31 When acting as a defender, a lawyer shall, according to facts and laws, put forward materials and opinions on acquittal, lighter punishment or reduction or exemption of criminal responsibility of criminal suspects and defendants, so as to protect the litigation rights and other legitimate rights and interests of criminal suspects and defendants.
Article 32 A client may refuse his entrusted lawyer to continue to defend or represent him, and at the same time, he may entrust another lawyer to act as a defender or agent.
After accepting the entrustment, a lawyer shall not refuse to defend or represent without justifiable reasons. However, if the entrusted matter is illegal, the client uses the services provided by the lawyer to engage in illegal activities, or the client deliberately conceals important facts related to the case, the lawyer has the right to refuse to defend or represent him.
2. Who can entrust a defender?
In criminal cases, the following persons have the right to entrust defenders:
1, criminal suspect and defendant.
2. Guardians of criminal suspects and defendants. Guardians can be parents, designated guardianship units, etc.
3. Close relatives of criminal suspects and defendants. Such as husband, wife, father, mother, son, daughter, brothers and sisters and so on.
4. In practice, the units where criminal suspects and defendants work, regardless of gender, can also hire defenders for them.
The difference between a criminal suspect and a defendant:
It is worth noting here that the criminal suspect has the right to entrust a defender from the day when he is interrogated for the first time by the investigation organ (police, procuratorate) or takes compulsory measures; However, during the investigation, only lawyers can be entrusted as defenders. The defendant has the right to entrust a defender at any time.
Both the suspect and the defendant are prosecuted in criminal proceedings. The difference between the two is that the criminal suspect only exists in the investigation stage and the examination and prosecution stage of the public prosecution case, while the defendant exists in both the public prosecution case and the private prosecution case, and both exist in the trial stage.
The appellations of "criminal suspect" and "defendant" not only indicate that they are in different stages of litigation, but also have independent meanings, that is, "criminal suspect" may not necessarily develop into "defendant". In some cases, after investigation and prosecution, it is finally decided not to pursue criminal responsibility, then the "criminal suspect" will not become the "defendant" and the lawsuit will end.
From the above analysis, we know that according to the provisions of the Lawyers Law, in the trial of criminal cases, lawyers, as defenders, should put forward materials and opinions on the defendant's innocence, light crime or mitigation or exemption from criminal responsibility according to facts and laws, so as to safeguard the defendant's litigation rights and other legitimate rights and interests.