A coalition of human rights organizations has urged the International Criminal Court (ICC) to impose disciplinary sanctions on former President Rodrigo Duterte’s lawyer, Nicolas Kaufman, citing alleged “professional and legal misconduct” during the ongoing crimes against humanity case.
In a statement released by the Center for International Law (CenterLaw) alongside other civil society groups, the advocates expressed “grave concern and alarm” over Kaufman’s supposed misrepresentation of facts in ICC filings, which they warned undermines public trust in the Court.
“Mr. Kaufman has distorted the factual record before the Court in order to advance the defendant’s application for interim release, revealing a pattern of professional and legal misconduct that directly undermines the confidence of the global and Filipino public in the Court,” the statement said.
The groups detailed two incidents they believe highlight this pattern. On June 12, Kaufman allegedly filed a claim suggesting that ICC prosecutors had agreed to Duterte’s interim release under certain terms, a statement later contradicted by the Office of the Prosecutor (OTP). The same tactic was said to have been repeated in September, when Kaufman purportedly “mischaracterized” remarks made by Presidential Press Undersecretary Claire Castro.
According to the groups, Castro’s statement—“whatever the decision of the [ICC], the government [of the Philippines] will accept it”—was twisted into an assertion of government support for Duterte’s release. “While the statement is simple on its face and shows due regard to the independence and legitimacy of decisions made by an international judicial body, Mr. Kaufman has twisted its meaning and implications,” the statement read.
They warned that such tactics erode the trust of victims of Duterte’s drug war who have placed their hopes in the ICC after years of frustration with local judicial systems. “The victims of Duterte’s crimes against humanity have turned to the ICC as a court of last resort after years of failure and disappointment before domestic judicial mechanisms,” they added. “Their pain and suffering is further deepened by manipulation and unethical tactics from counsel that makes a mockery of and undermines their hopes for a trustworthy legal process.”
The petitioning groups called on both the OTP and the Office of Public Counsel for Victims to move forward with disciplinary action against Kaufman, while also urging the Philippine government to refute his claims and consider its own measures.
The ICC has charged Duterte with three counts of crimes against humanity linked to the thousands of killings during his administration’s anti-drug campaign.
