Nicholas Kaufman, Duterte’s Lead Counsel, Pushes for Jurisdictional Argument
DUTERTE’S LEAD COUNSEL – International Criminal Court (ICC) accredited lawyer Joel Butuyan claimed that Attorney Nicholas Kaufman has ‘rehashed arguments with little weight’.
Vice Pres. Sara Duterte previously announced that the legal team of former Pres. Rodrigo Roa Duterte for his ICC trial excludes Harry Roque and Salvador Medialdea. The legal team of the former President is led by British-Israeli lawyer Nicholas Kaufman.
Kaufman is confident to win the case of Duterte before the ICC. The camp of the former Philippine President refused to name the other members of the legal team of Duterte. According to Vice Pres. Sara Duterte, she will set her father’s legal team before she will go back to the Philippines.
Former Pres Rodrigo Roa Duterte made his initial appearance before the pre-trial chamber last March 15. The confirmation of the charges against the former President is set on September 23.
Duterte is currently detained in the Hague Penitentiary Institution for more than a week now. The former President is now under a regular detention following several days of being monitored in the hospital wing of the ICC detention facility.
Recently, former Pres. Rodrigo Roa Duterte’s lawyer, Nicholas Kaufman, expressed his hope to convince the judges that the ICC allegedly has no jurisdiction in the Philippines. He believes that the jurisdictional argument should succeed.
With huge confidence on their jurisdictional argument, Duterte’s lead counsel admitted that he will be disappointed if it will not succeed. According to him, he will be able to convince the judges that the ICC has no jurisdiction in the country, things may no longer need to get to the confirmation of the charges against the former President.
However, based on a report on Inquirer, lawyer Joel Butuyan who is accredited by the ICC claimed that the arguments of Duterte’s lead counsel have little weight. He stressed that those are allegedly not “compelling arguments”.
“With all due respect, Mr. Kaufman is not raising ‘compelling’ arguments, but rehashed arguments which have been found to have little weight,” Butuyan said.
Based on the report, the ICC-accredited lawyer also stressed that the arrest of former Pres. Rodrigo Roa Duterte went through a legal process. He emphasized that the arrest warrant is valid and the former President was also read his Miranda rights.
Amid the strong support shown by the Duterte supporters for the former president, former Pres. Rodrigo Roa Duterte asked his supporters not to interfere in the ICC trial and let the lawyers and the Court decide on what’s next.