American author pleads: I’m not ICC lawyer

An American author has appealed to pro-Duterte supporters to “stop messaging him” after they had mistaken him for the lawyer representing the former Philippine president at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, Netherlands.

“I am being absolutely flooded today with followers and commenters from the Philippines who I guess don’t believe I’m not Duterte’s lawyer. Our names aren’t even spelled the same (he’s Kaufman with one N). It’s insane!” Nicholas Kaufmann wrote on Facebook on Wednesday.

Kaufmann said the first messages he received were from supporters of former President Rodrigo Duterte, but lately he has been getting comments from Filipinos apologizing on their behalf.

“Lately, I’m getting some anti-Duterte commenters from the Philippines who are apologizing for the others and calling many of them bots,” the author said in response to one of the comments.

“People of the Philippines, I am NOT the ICC lawyer Nicholas Kaufman who is representing President Duterte! Please stop messaging me!” he wrote.

Kaufmann is a New York-based horror, urban fantasy, and adventure fiction writer. His work has been nominated for the Bram Stoker Award, Shirley Jackson Award, International Thriller Writers Award, and the Dragon Award.

Meanwhile, seasoned international lawyer Nicholas Kaufman is a British-Israeli barrister who has defended figures accused of war crimes and human rights violations at the ICC.

He has served as counsel for Jean-Pierre Bemba, a former Congolese vice president, and Aisha Gaddafi, the daughter of late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.

His most recent high-profile case involved Maxime Mokom Gawaka, a militia leader from the Central African Republic, though his representation there ended due to a conflict of interest.

Educated at the University of Cambridge, Kaufman is not just a trial lawyer but a legal strategist specializing in litigation, crisis public relations, and reputation management.

He represents Duterte at the ICC where the latter faces a trial for crimes against humanity in connection with the bloody war on drugs during his terms as mayor and president from 2011 to 2019 which, according to government data, left at least 6,000 persons dead, a number private groups said could be as high as 30,000.