The Criminal Court has decided to hold the murder trial of writer Yameen Rasheed, behind closed doors.

While the hearings for the trial commenced on Sunday, the hearing was held behind closed doors at the request of the Prosecutor General's Office.

Charges have been levied against a total of seven individuals, while Sunday's hearing was against six of the suspects.

The six are; Hussain Ziyad, Ismail Haisham Rasheed, Ismail Rasheed, Hassan Shifaz, Mohamed Dhifran and Ahmed Zihan Ismail.

They are charged with first-degree murder, while the seventh suspect is charged with accessory to murder.

According to the Maldives Police Sevice, Ismail Rasheed, Ismail Haisham Rasheed and Ahmed Zihan Ismail had been actively involved in the killing.

Yameen Rasheed was found stabbed to death on the stairwell of his residence, M. Spatula, in the early hours on the 23rd of April.

Police said that they had, in their investigation, analyzed over 1,850 hours video footage and 40,000 individuals between the ages of 20-40.

One of the most prominent bloggers in the country and a pro-democracy activist, Yameen Rasheed had been the biggest campaigner in the search for missing journalist Ahmed Rilwan.

However, MPS has said that their investigation did not show any links between Rilwan's abduction and Yameen's murder.