British-Israeli Lawyer Nicholas Kaufman Speaks on ICC Case of Former Pres. Rodrigo Duterte
Nicholas Kaufman, the lead counsel of former President Rodrigo Duterte, asked he is not being tried in the Philippines asserting that his client is a Filipino citizen.
The March 11 turn of events brought political turmoil in the Philippine government. The Filipinos have different opinions on the arrest of former Pres. Rodrigo Roa Duterte who is now under the custody of the International Criminal Court.
Duterte is faced with an accusation of crimes against humanity. The ICC previously said that the prosecution team has at least 8,500 pages of written evidence against Duterte. The other camp also have at least 15 hours of footage as evidence against the former President.
The former President is currently under a regular detention at the Hague Penitentiary Institution. The ICC observes strict rules with regards to the visitation. As of this writing, three children of the former President and his long-time partner, Honeylet Avanceña, have visited him inside the ICC detention facility.
Vice Pres. Sara Duterte was the one who immediately flew to The Hague following the arrest of former Pres. Duterte. She set the ICC legal team of the former President. A few days ahead of the 80th birthday of former Pres. Duterte last March 28, Honeylet Avanceña and Kitty Duterte arrived in the Netherlands.
The ICC legal team of former Pres. Rodrigo Roa Duterte is led by British-Israeli lawyer Nicholas Kaufman. French lawyer Dov Jacobs is also part of the team. Recently, Kaufman gave his time for a short interview regarding Duterte’s ICC case.
Based on a video posted on the Facebook page Nurse Mae Laagan, lawyer Nicholas Kaufman said he can’t understand why former Pres. Rodrigo Duterte is in The Hague and not in the Philippines.
“I can’t understand why he’s here. He’s a Filipino citizen. There’s a Filipino president in that country who threw a Filipino citizen over here to be tried. Why isn’t he in the Philippines? Why isn’t he being tried in the Philippines? Why is there not a Filipino judge who is trying him?” the British-Israeli Lawyer said.
Previously, Duterte’s lawyer Nicholas Kaufman expressed his confidence on their jurisdictional argument over the ICC case. According to him, if he will be able to convince the judges that the court has no jurisdiction in the Philippines, there might be no need to proceed in the confirmation of charges set on September 23.