Absentia trial in the international criminal court Interaction of Kenyan case and the General Assembly’s enactments

In the international criminal law, the prohibition of absentia trial is preferable and the defendant's presence at the court hearing, that based on principles of contradictoriness, equality of arms and equal defense right, has been recognized as part of his rights for fair trial. In association with the acceptance of this right in the international arena, one of the defendants of the ICC cases demanded that his right to be waived and requested an exemption from attending the hearing. The emergence of this demand led to controversial issues, even caused the rules of the presence of the accused during the ICC trial to be amended. This article, while reviewing the case of William Ruto and Joshua Sang, explains the provisions of the Rome Statute in this matter and describes the different point of views about this matter. So; the ICC's decisions on this case have been described critically. The effect of this case on the General Assembly of States Parties is another part of this article that resulted to enacting amendments to regulations about absentia trial under Rules 134bis, 134ter, 134quater of the Rules of Procedure and Evidence. By enacting these rules, the possibility of absentia trial and exemption from presence of the accused, with some conditions, was provided.