A speedy trial tribunal will now try blogger Ahmed Rajib Haider murder case which was pending with a Dhaka court.

Rajib, an activist of the Shahbagh movement demanding death penalty for war criminals, was hacked to death in the capital's Pallabi on February 15, 2013.

In a gazette notification, the law department of the home ministry on May 5 ordered the authorities concerned to send the Rajib murder case to the Speedy Trial Tribunal-3 of Dhaka for its quick disposal.

The fourth additional metropolitan sessions judge's court sent the case to the tribunal yesterday.

Meantime, Rajib's father who is complainant of the case, and two more witnesses yesterday appeared before the court to give their statements.

Earlier on March 18 this year, the Dhaka court framed charges against the chief of militant group Ansarullah Bangla Team and seven former students of a private university.

The seven students are Redwanul Azad Rana, Md Faisal Bin Nayem alias Dweep, Maksudul Hasan alias Anik, Md Ehsan Reza alias Rumman, Nayem Sikdar alias Iraj, Nafis Imtiaz and Sadman Yasir Mahmud.

Of them, Rana is on the run and the charge was framed against him in his absence. In the charge sheet, Rana was shown as the mastermind of the killing.