Legal aid: a legal guarantee system in which legal aid agencies established by the government or lawyers organized by the government organize legal aid according to law to provide free legal services for people with financial difficulties or special cases, especially those in rural areas. A special case refers to a case in which the criminal suspect or defendant is a mental patient who is blind, deaf, dumb or has not completely lost the ability to identify or control his own behavior, and has not entrusted a defender in accordance with the provisions of the second and third paragraphs of Article 35 of the Criminal Procedure Law of People's Republic of China (PRC). People's courts, people's procuratorates and public security organs shall notify legal aid institutions to appoint lawyers to defend them.
Legal basis: Article 34 of the Criminal Procedure Law of People's Republic of China (PRC), if the defendant in a criminal case is blind, deaf or dumb, or if a minor has not entrusted a defender, or if the defendant may be sentenced to death without entrusting a defender, he shall receive legal aid.