International Criminal Court rule change means Kenya president may not have to attend trial

THE HAGUE, Netherlands – Member states of the International Criminal Court have amended its rules to allow defendants to appear via video link and allow suspects who hold high office to miss parts of their trials, decisions likely to affect Kenya's president who is due to go on trial in February.

The court's 122-nation Assembly of States Parties adopted the changes Wednesday at a meeting in The Hague.

Elizabeth Evenson, senior international justice counsel at Human Rights Watch, said the decision to allow high office holders to stay home — on a case-by-case basis — "risks putting in place a two-tiered justice and undermining perceptions of the court's legitimacy."

Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta is charged with involvement in deadly violence that erupted after his country's 2007 elections. He insists he is innocent.