Image from the web
"Since ancient times, the law has only forgiven the affection of those who have a good heart" "Whoever does not repent of his sins and does not have a good heart can only punish him with evil deeds and evil thoughts" "But there are young people who are indifferent and righteous for their own benefit; there are even evil people, who kill and sell drugs, who destroy human nature, and who are really worried about the country and the harm of the people. ”
This awe-inspiring words would not have been too abrupt to appear in any online article, but these words appeared in a less appropriate place - the "defense opinions" of defense lawyers, and caused heated discussion in the industry.
According to media reports, the defense opinion came from a lawyer in Hangzhou. In the defendant Hu XX's drug trafficking appeal case, this lawyer provided criminal defense assistance to Hu XX as an assigned assistance lawyer. This defense opinion has been widely criticized by the legal profession, saying that the lawyer has deviated from his status as a lawyer and played the role of "second prosecutor". In this regard, the Hangzhou Lawyers Association said that it will launch an industry investigation procedure.
As lawyers, according to the practice norms, they should respect their peers, and must not defame or denigrate their peers. Therefore, many lawyers have always been cautious in their evaluation of other lawyers. However, at the same time, the practice code also requires that lawyers should maintain the reputation of the industry and should resist acts that seriously damage the overall image of lawyers. The lawyer's conduct did violate the duties of a defense lawyer and was criticized by the legal profession, which was inevitable.
The responsibility of defense lawyers is stipulated in article 37 of the Criminal Procedure Law: "The responsibility of the defender is to submit materials and opinions on the innocence, leniency or mitigation of criminal responsibility of criminal suspects or defendants on the basis of facts and laws, and to safeguard the procedural rights and other lawful rights and interests of criminal suspects and defendants." In other words, the defense lawyer can only do what is beneficial to the defendant, and if he says that it is beneficial to the defendant, he can only protect his legitimate rights and interests, and cannot do the opposite.
In fact, this is an elaborate arrangement of the modern criminal procedure system. Modern criminal procedure has designed a three-function model of stability in prosecution, defense and trial, in which one of the prosecutors and the victim (or the private prosecutor in a private prosecution case) performs the function of prosecution, the defendant and defender perform the function of defense, and the judge performs the function of trial.
Legal aid lawyers act as defenders, but the way defenders are selected is different, which does not change the nature of the duties of defense lawyers in the slightest. The prosecution and defense are equivalent to the players on both sides of the football field, and the judge is equivalent to the referee on the field, each performing his or her duties and not overstepping, otherwise it will be messed up. The worst situation on the football field is probably to play a "match-fixing" and "oolong ball".
Stills from the TV series.
It should be known that the strength of the prosecutor, who is appointed by the national procuratorial organ to be a professional prosecutor, prosecutes crimes on behalf of the state, and its strength is self-evident. However, the defendant is the object of responsibility, generally in prison, the reading of the file and the investigation are very limited, and they lack professional knowledge, and cannot perform the defense function well, so the law has added the role of "defender" (generally played by lawyers) to supplement it, and tried its best to achieve "equal confrontation" between the prosecution and the defense, so that the court can "listen to and be clear", so as to make a fair judgment.
If the defender turns his back in court, completely stands on the position of the prosecution, and becomes the "second prosecutor", it is conceivable what kind of situation the defendant will be placed in, which is a taboo for defense lawyers, and it is also a disregard for the rights of the parties, which violates both the lawyer's professional ethics and the "heavenly rule" of the law on defense duties.
In addition, the lawyer's defense opinions in the form of half-text and half-white language are not in line with the norms of court language, which is not conducive to letting the court understand the defense viewpoint, and has no practical benefit except to give people the impression of being mysterious and sensational. This deserves the attention of lawyers at large.
Imagine if there were more "defense opinions" like this, who would dare to entrust a lawyer to act as a defender? How else can trust between lawyers and clients be built? Therefore, this kind of behavior cannot be ignored, and it is only natural that the Hangzhou Lawyers Association should initiate an investigation.
In addition, the Hangzhou Lawyers Association also rejected the claim that the lawyer was the deputy director of the Criminal Defense Committee of the Zhejiang Provincial Lawyers Association, so whether the lawyer still had acts of unfair competition with false propaganda should also be investigated and announced to the public.
Finally, it should also be pointed out that there are only a very few lawyers who harm themselves like this, and the majority of lawyers, even legal aid lawyers, are dedicated to serving the parties and protecting the interests of the parties to the greatest extent. In essence, this incident is still an isolated case and has nothing to do with industry practice.
□ Liu Changsong (Lawyer, Beijing Mugong Law Firm)
Edited by Meng Ran Proofreader Zhao Lin
Source: Beijing News