1. People who can act as defenders. According to Article 32 of the Criminal Procedure Law, the scope of defenders includes:
(1) lawyer. A lawyer refers to a practitioner who has obtained the qualification of lawyer according to legal procedures and provided legal services to the society after registration. A lawyer who has obtained the qualification as a lawyer but is not registered may not entrust a lawyer as a defender. Lawyers as defenders have the following restrictions: lawyers are not allowed to practice while serving as members of the standing committees of people's congresses at all levels; Judges and other staff members of the people's court shall not serve as defenders within 2 years after leaving the people's court, and shall not serve as prosecutors within 2 years after leaving the people's procuratorate; If a serviceman becomes a criminal suspect or defendant, he may hire a lawyer as a defender from the army or local government. Foreigners, stateless criminal suspects and defendants who entrust lawyers to defend can only entrust lawyers in China as defenders.
The Interpretation stipulates that the transfer period of the people's court is "twenty-four hours"; The transfer period of the people's procuratorate stipulated in the Rules is "three days"; According to the regulations of the Ministry of Public Security, the transfer period of public security organs is "twenty-four hours".
(2) A person recommended by a people's organization or the unit where the criminal suspect or defendant belongs. Because the current scale of lawyers in our country can not fully meet the actual needs, in order to effectively safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of criminal suspects and defendants, mass organizations such as trade unions, women's federations, youth league committees, and student associations, as well as the units where criminal suspects and defendants work, can recommend citizens other than practicing lawyers as defenders. Legal education network
(3) Guardians, relatives and friends of criminal suspects and defendants. The so-called guardian refers to the person or unit responsible for protecting the person, property and other legitimate rights and interests of minors and mental patients with incapacity or limited capacity. Relatives and friends of a criminal suspect or defendant may accept the entrustment of the criminal suspect or defendant and their legal representatives as defenders. Allowing the guardians, relatives and friends of criminal suspects and defendants to act as defenders is mainly based on their close relationship with criminal suspects and defendants and their better understanding of the situation, which is helpful for them to exercise their right to defense.
If a lawyer, a people's organization, a person recommended by the defendant's unit and the defendant's guardian, relatives and friends are entrusted as defenders, the case-handling organ shall verify their identity certificates and power of attorney.
2. People who cannot act as defenders. According to the provisions of the Criminal Procedure Law and relevant judicial interpretations, the following persons are not allowed to act as defenders: (1) persons who are being executed or are on probation or parole; (2) A person who is deprived or restricted of personal freedom according to law; (3) Persons without capacity or persons with limited capacity; (4) Current employees of people's courts, people's procuratorates, public security organs, state security organs and prisons; (5) People's jurors; (6) People who have an interest in the trial result of this case; (7) Foreigners or stateless persons. Among them, the persons specified in items (4), (5), (6) and (7) above may also be allowed if they are guardians or close relatives of the defendant and are entrusted by the defendant to act as defenders.
According to the provisions of Article 36 of the Interpretation and Article 39 of the Rules, judges, other staff members and prosecutors of the people's courts may not act as defenders of the original courts and procuratorates when they leave the people's procuratorates. Spouses, children or parents of judges and other staff members of the people's courts, and spouses and children of prosecutors shall not act as defenders in handling cases in their own courts and procuratorates. However, under the above circumstances, if the defendant is the guardian or near relative of the defendant, he can act as a defender.
3. The number of defenders.
Article 32 of the Criminal Procedure Law stipulates that a criminal suspect or defendant may entrust one or two defenders in addition to exercising the right of defense, that is, a criminal suspect or defendant may entrust two defenders at most.
In the case of * * * accomplice, because of the interest relationship between the criminal suspect and the defendant, a defender may not accept the entrustment of two or more co-defendants as his * * * accomplice defenders at the same time. Similarly, based on the consideration of interests, defenders may not defend two or more criminal suspects and defendants who have not been dealt with in the same case but are related to their crimes.