Nicholas Kaufman, Duterte’s Lawyer, Speaks on Accusations vs. Former President
Duterte’s lawyer Nicholas Kaufman insisted that former President Rodrigo Duterte allegedly did not give direct order to kill drug suspects.
The confirmation of charges of former Pres. Rodrigo Roa Duterte is currently ongoing from February 23 to February 27. The former President signed a waiver not to personally attend the hearing.
In his letter to the ICC, former Pres. Rodrigo Duterte claimed that he does not recognize the jurisdiction of the foreign court over him. According to Duterte, he is old and frail and has accepted the possibility that he might die in prison.
The former President further expressed a request to the ICC to respect his peace in the cell they have put him in. Despite the former President being quite hopeless, former Pres. Rodrigo Duterte’s lawyer expressed his hope that the ICC will dismiss the charges. They also plan to ask the foreign court to return the former President to the Philippines.
The International Criminal Court allowed former Pres. Rodrigo Roa Duterte to skip the February 27 hearing for the review of his detention. In the confirmation of charges, aside from Duterte’s lawyer Nicholas Kaufman, the former Chief Executive is also represented by six (6) Filipino lawyers who are as follows:
- Salvador Medialdea
- Martin Delgra III
- Silvestre Bello III
- Alfredo Lim Jr.
- Caesar Dulay
- Salvador Panelo
Both former Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea and former presidential chief legal counsel Salvador Panelo believe that the accusations against former Pres. Rodrigo Duterte are weak. Aside from the Filipino lawyers, Duterte’s lawyer Nicholas Kaufman also believes that there is allegedly “no smoking gun in this case”.
“Not one witness relevant to any of the 49 incidents with which Mr. Rodrigo Duterte is charged will testify that he received a direct order from the former president to go out and kill someone,” Kaufman claimed based on a report on GMA News.
As per the report, Duterte’s lawyer also slammed the accusation of the prosecution that former Pres. Rodrigo Roa Duterte allegedly sparked an attack against all the Filipinos “pursuant to a policy to neutralize persons perceived or alleged to be engaged in crime”. The British-Israeli Lead Counsel of the Defense claimed that such suggestion is supposedly “not just comprehensible” but bizarre.
Furthermore, Nicholas Kaufman also claimed that there is allegedly not mutually agreed common plan between former Pres. Rodrigo Roa Duterte and his suppose co-perpetrators. Two (2) senators, Bato dela Rosa and Bong Go, were named as alleged co-perpetrators of the former Chief Executive.
Recently, amid the ICC’s tag on him, Sen. Bong Go spoke on the Senate resolution filed by the minority bloc against “extraordinary rendition”.
