Geline Salac

Kaufman denies being paid 'bags and bags of money' to represent Duterte in ICC

Article (news)

Katrina Domingo

ABS-CBN News

<p>THE HAGUE, Netherlands — Former President Rodrigo Duterte’s lead defense counsel Nicholas Kaufman pedaled his way from the Prison Scheveningen on Tuesday after meeting his Davaoeño client who will likely celebrate his 81st birthday in detention.</p><p>The British-Israeli lawyer greeted Filipinos who were waiting for chance interviews outside the detention facility, still donning the same clothes he has been sporting in previous days.</p><p>“I’m a pretty simple guy,” he told ABS-CBN News after getting off his bicycle for a quick chat.</p><p>“Because of the war that is going on in my part of the world, I didn’t have the ability to go back. I’ve got no clothes at the moment,” he said.</p><p>The British-Israeli lawyer is among the United Arab Emirates-bound passengers who have been stranded in the Hague as air strikes stalled flights to and from the Middle East over the weekend.</p><p>Kaufman — who has been practicing international law for 36 years — has been traveling between the International Criminal Court’s base in the Netherlands and his home country Israel, especially on days when there are no scheduled court proceedings.</p><p>While the veteran defense counsel has already represented former Congo Vice President Jean Pierre Bemba and former Central African Republic (CAR) minister Maxime Mokom before the ICC, he denies receiving a hefty sum for his services.</p><p>“People think I’m getting paid bags and bags of money to represent the former president,” Kaufman said.</p><p>“If I was being paid bags and bags of money, trust me, I wouldn’t be going around it a bicycle. I would be going around in a Mercedes or a Bentley or something more appropriate,” he said.</p><p>In the Philippines, where personality politics is common, Kaufman has become a celebrity of sorts among Duterte’s supporters.</p><p>They would often greet him outside the detention facility, ask for interviews, and even take videos of the lawyer riding his bicycle to and from meetings with the Philippines’ 16th President.</p><p>More recently, after Duterte’s 4-day confirmation of charges hearing in the ICC, the former president’s supporters would splice Kaufman’s statements in court, and praise him for defending the detained leader who is facing charges of crimes against humanity for the thousands of Filipinos who died during the previous administration’s drug war.</p><p>“It’s nice for once that I’m getting nice attention as opposed to getting the other type of attention which I get from doing other cases,” he said.</p><p>“As I’ve said, you take the rough with the smooth and as a lawyer for the last 36 years at least, I’ve had all the types of criticism,” he said.</p><p>“I’m glad for once it is favorable.”</p><div><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/DJUFG5gSvAU?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/bSy9hMixJSY?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ei0Uu1ymoBE?&amp;t=75s&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><br/></div>

<p>Former President Rodrigo Duterte’s lead defense counsel Nicholas Kaufman pedaled his way from the Prison Scheveningen on Tuesday after meeting his Davaoeño client who will likely celebrate his 81st birthday in detention.</p>

Former President Rodrigo Duterte’s lead defense counsel Nicholas Kaufman pedaled his way from the Prison Scheveningen on Tuesday after meeting his Davaoeño client who will likely celebrate his 81st birthday in detention.