Claire Castro. Screengrab from RTVM/Facebook
MANILA, Philippines — A Palace official wished Atty. Nicholas Kaufman “all the luck” in defending former President Rodrigo Duterte, who himself has “admitted” to committing extrajudicial killings (EJKs).
Palace Press Officer Claire Castro made this remark during a briefing on Tuesday when asked for a reaction to Kaufman’s comment that one of the biggest challenges he sees in Duterte’s case is the potential political manipulation of arguments.
Castro, who is also a lawyer, said it is normal for any legal counsel to want to win their client’s case.
READ: Duterte: My only sin is the extrajudicial killings
“He will definitely face some difficulties… regarding the admissions made by his client. But we wish him all the luck because, still, we have to presume that the suspect is still innocent until proven guilty,” she said.
She advised Kaufman to determine who is truly being “manipulated” in Duterte’s case.
“Maybe it’s really better, because he said that it’s a political manipulation of arguments, so it is also better for him to know who manipulates who,” said Castro.
Kaufman made his statement about political manipulation during an exclusive interview with NewsWatch Plus.Asked what potential hurdles he sees in handling Duterte’s case, he responded, “The only potential hurdle that I foresee is the political manipulation of the arguments presented during the litigation. One argument, frequently and robotically raised to object to interim release, is the supposed existence of a huge support network that may be exploited either to facilitate flight or intimidation.”
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Kaufman is the lead counsel of Duterte’s defense team. The former president was arrested in Manila on March 11. He was flown the same day to The Hague, Netherlands, to face trial for crimes against humanity allegedly committed during his administration’s drug war.
Duterte made his first appearance at his pretrial hearing last March 14, three days after his arrest in Manila. He was unable to attend physically and only participated in the pretrial via video link.
His administration’s drug war claimed at least 6,000 lives, according to official government data. However, human rights watchdogs estimated the death toll from the drug war to be between 12,000 and 30,000 from 2016 to 2019.