THE HAGUE, Netherlands — Reacting to the assessment by former president Rodrigo Roa Duterte ‘s lead counsel that she and her fellow human rights lawyer Joel Butuyan are not authorized to represent victims in the International Criminal Court (ICC)’s investigation into Duterte’s controversial drug war, Atty. Kristina’ Krissy’ Conti has strongly refuted what she described as an “unethical and unfair” statement made by British-Israeli barrister Nicholas Kaufman.
In an interview, Conti said that neither she nor Butuyan, one of only five Filipino attorneys accredited by the international tribunal, had applied to be part of the legal representative team, simply because the court has not opened the formal registration process for victims.
“We haven’t even applied yet to be a legal representative team. That’s because our clients—the victims—haven’t even been invited yet to qualify. In other words, the registration isn’t open yet,” she strongly pointed out.
Based on court proceedings, the process of victim participation at the ICC involves an initial registration phase, after which the court appoints a common legal representative.
Conti asserted she and her team had already submitted communications to the court ahead of the registration phase, allowing their clients to be recognized once the application window officially opens.
In addition, the human rights lawyer state that despite not being formally designated by the court at this stage, Conti said their long-standing role as counsel for many victims of extrajudicial killings should not be downplayed.
“You can’t just erase over eight years of work we’ve done helping these victims,” she stressed. “We represent them in other capacities and in other proceedings. In fact, broadly speaking, we continue to represent their interests.”
Conti was incredulous over the credibility of Kaufman’s statement, which she questioned while noting Kaufman’s relatively recent entry into the case.
“I found it really unethical and unfair for Attorney Kaufman to make that claim — considering he’s only been on this case for two months. We are the lawyers of the victims,” she declared with finality.