Legal analysis: Defender refers to the person entrusted by the accused or appointed by the people's court to help the criminal suspect and defendant exercise their right to defense and 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.
Legal basis: Article 286 of the Criminal Procedure Law of People's Republic of China (PRC) * * * If he was under the age of 18 at the time of committing the crime and was sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than five years, the relevant criminal records shall be sealed. If the criminal record is sealed, it shall not be provided to any unit or individual, except for the need of judicial organs to handle cases or the relevant units to make inquiries in accordance with state regulations. Units that inquire according to law shall keep the sealed criminal records confidential.