AYALA, Makati City — British-Israeli barrister and International Criminal Court (ICC) lawyer Nicholas Kaufman has expressed confidence of acquittal in the complaint of crimes against humanity filed before the Netherlands-based tribunal against former president Rodrigo Roa Duterte.

Last week, Vice President 'Inday' Sara Duterte-Carpio had announced the appointment of Kaufman as her father’s lead counsel. The ICC lawyer's legal services span from celebrities to politicians and “other high-profile individuals around the world.” He served as a trial lawyer of the international court for the former Yugoslavia and also worked as a defense counsel for the ICC.

Following his acceptance in his appointment as part of Duterte’s defense team, Kaufmann claimed he was “very confident about the strongest defense and (that Duterte would be) acquitted indeed, even at the earliest stage.”

Meanwhile, an expert in international law has cited that the time gap between former president Rodrigo Roa Duterte (FPRRD)’s initial appearance before the International Criminal Court (ICC) last Friday and the confirmation of charges on September 23 will prove to be crucial for the former president’s lawyers to prepare their fefense against the complaint of crimes against humanity filed before the global tribunal.
According to Atty. Joel Ruiz Butuyan, president of the Center for International Law and managing partner of the Butuyan and Rayel Law Offices, the six-month period would give Duterte’s legal counsels to study thoroughly how they will respond to the complaints leveled against the former strongman from Davao.

At the same time, Butuyan added, Duterte’s lawyers could use this perfect “opportunity” to raise any challenges before the ICC.

“Usually, what will happen is that they will file their challenge and the (ICC) prosecutor is going to . . . submit its counter-arguments and then the ICC, the Pre-Trial Chamber, is going to rule,” Butuyan, also an ICC-accredited lawyer, explained.

He likewise emphasized that the most critical aspect during this period of waiting is the disclosure of evidence by the prosecution that will allow Duterte’s camp to prepare for trial.

“At the ICC, the prosecutor is obliged to give him the evidence they gathered that favors him or can help in his defense,” the international law expert dusclosed while noting that this kind of privilege is not observed in Philippine court proceedings.

However, former Bayan Muna party-list representative Neri Colmenares, one of the co-counsels for the victims of Duterte's drug war, clarified that the September hearing would focus on the objection of the defense to the charges “rather than the process of the arrest.”

This was in response to Duterte’s former spokesperson Atty. Herminio 'Harry' Roque Jr.’s pronouncement that they would question the manner of the arrest of his former Malacañan boss and the ICC’s jurisdiction over the Philippines based on its withdrawal from the Rome Statute effective in March 2019.

Roque, also an accredited lawyer in the ICC, is part of Duterte’s defense team alongside former executive secretary Salvador Medialdea.