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Nicholas Kaufman
British-Israeli international defense lawyer From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Nicholas Kaufman (Hebrew: ניקולס קאופמן) is a British-Israeli lawyer who has served as a defense attorney at the International Criminal Court.
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Early life and education
Kaufman was born in Liverpool in the United Kingdom to a Jewish family and grew up in Birmingham. He obtained his law degree from the University of Cambridge in 1989.[1][2][3] He also studied at the Inns of Court School of Law in 1991.[4]
Career
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Early career
After graduating from Cambridge, Kaufman worked as a defence lawyer in Birmingham before moving to Israel. He served the Military Advocate General’s Office of the Israel Defense Forces. He worked on peace agreements and international law.[1]
Kaufman went on to work in a Tel Aviv law firm focusing on corporate law before transitioning to criminal law in 1996 by becoming a prosecutor in the Jerusalem District Attorney's Office. He took cases including those involving murder, rape, and terrorism.[1]
International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia
Kaufman joined the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in 2003 becoming Israel's first prosecutor in said court. He helped secure the conviction of Serbian and Montenegrin generals for war crimes committed in attacking Dubrovnik in 1991.[1]
International Criminal Court
Kaufman also served as a defense lawyer at the International Criminal Court. His clients include Democratic Republic of the Congo vice president Jean-Pierre Bemba; Ayesha, the daughter of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi; and a militia leader from the Central African Republic Mokom Gawaka. His representation with Gawaka ended due to a conflict of interest.[5][6][7]
Commenting on the US administration’s lifting of sanctions imposed on the outgoing ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda, Kaufman emphasized to Israeli Army Radio that it was not possible bribe the new ICC prosecutor, Karim Khan. This came at a time when the ICC was launching an investigation into Israeli crimes in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem.[8]
Kaufman will defend former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte at the ICC, who is set to go on trial in relation to the ongoing investigation in the Philippines.[9]
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Personal life
Kaufman immgrated to the state of Israel in 1993 at age 25. He married an Israeli woman.[1]
References
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