Legal team to challenge ICC jurisdiction—Roque
Vice President Sara Duterte has named lawyer Nicholas Kaufman as the lead counsel of her father, former President Rodrigo Duterte, who is facing charges of crimes against humanity before the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Kaufman is set to join the legal team, which also includes former executive secretary Salvador Medialdea and former presidential spokesperson Harry Roque.
The Vice President said her father’s defense team will meet with Kaufman upon the latter’s arrival in The Hague.
Kaufman, an ICC-accredited lawyer, is a member of the British Bar.
The British-Israeli lawyer’s LinkedIn profile showed that he studied law at the University of Cambridge.
His profile also states that he specializes in “international criminal law, supra-national regulatory law, and commercial arbitration” on top of being a “legal public relations specialist with an emphasis on international reputation management, litigation, and crisis public relations.
Kaufman was previously appointed as the counsel for Maxime Jeoffroy Eli Mokom Gawaka, the alleged former National Coordinator of Operations of the Anti-Balaka who was suspected of war crimes and crimes against humanity allegedly in various locations in the Central African Republic.
The pre-trial chamber, however, revoked Kaufman’s appointment as Mokom’s counsel due to a “conflict of interest” related to his representation of other clients.
Kaufman also served as counsel for Jean-Pierre Bemba Gombo, President and Commander-in-chief of the Movement for the Liberation of Congo, but later requested to withdraw from the latter’s representation as the client “could not meet the obligation to pay for the legal services provided.”
He also previously served as lawyer of Aisha Gaddafi, daughter of the late Libyan leader Muammar who also faced the ICC.
Roque, for his part, said they will challenge the ICC’s jurisdiction before the next hearing on September 23.
Roque criticized the ICC for allegedly disregarding the issue of kidnapping as a factor that should strip the court of jurisdiction.
“You cannot correct a wrong by committing another wrong…It is unacceptable that we accept jurisdiction acquired through kidnapping, especially when kidnapping took place in the context of the Philippines, where the court is now being used as a tool of oppression by the Marcos government,” Roque said.
“We will raise the issue of jurisdiction even before September 23 because we believe that the issue of jurisdiction—both on the implication of kidnapping as a means of divesting the court of jurisdiction and whether or not the court has jurisdiction despite the fact that preliminary examination was commenced two years after we had already withdrawn from our membership in the court—must be addressed,” he added.