Canada

Photo: The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

This file photo provided by the Montreal Police Service shows Luka Rocco Magnotta. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Montreal Police Service

A preliminary hearing is set to start today for Luka Rocco Magnotta, the man charged in connection with the infamous body-parts case that made international headlines.

Magnotta's lawyers want the public and media barred from attending the hearing, which is to determine if there is enough evidence for a trial.

The request for the closed courtroom stems from an unspecified reason related to Magnotta's personal and medical history.

His legal team hopes the only people allowed in the Montreal courtroom to hear the details will be the prosecutors, the judge and a court clerk.

Magnotta is charged with first-degree murder in the slaying of Chinese-born student Jun Lin last May, he has pleaded not guilty to the allegations.

Authorities named Magnotta as a suspect after the severed remains of Lin, a Montreal engineering student, were mailed to the Ottawa offices of the federal Conservatives and the federal Liberals along with two Vancouver schools.

More remains were found at a Montreal park.