Yameen Rasheed murder trial hearing on Sunday
Hearings closed off to public
Yameen Rasheed with missing journalist Ahmed Rilwan's mother
Criminal Court has scheduled a hearing of the case of murder of blogger Yameen Rasheed for Sunday.
The hearings are set for 3pm on Sunday, where the defendants will respond to the charges.
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. The charges were raised on them on July 31st.
The hearings had been closed off to public, on request of Prosecutor General’s Office. PG office said only certain hearings and not the whole trial had been closed off to public.
The last hearing of the case was held on the 4th of this month. The hearings were concluded after giving one of the respondents, Haisham, 10 days to appoint his legal representation.
All except Haisham and Zihan are under custody of Maldives Correctional Service (MCS). Haisham and Zihan are under Police custody in Dhoonidhoo island. Yameen Rasheed was found stabbed to death on the stairwell of his residence, M. Spatula, in the early hours on the 23rd of April.
