Pakistani prosecutors charge ex-President Musharraf with Benazir Bhutto's murder
ISLAMABAD. August 20. KAZINFORM Former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has been formally charged with the murder of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto - the first ever woman to lead the government in a Muslim country. The public prosecutor said on Tuesday that Musharraf "was charged with murder, criminal conspiracy for murder and facilitation for murder."
According to prosecutors, the former Pakistani President did not ensure reliable protection for Bhutto who returned to her homeland, as a result of which she was killed by extremists in Islamabad's satellite town of Rawalpindi in December 2007. Bhutto, twice elected Prime Minister of Pakistan, was assassinated in a gun and bomb attack after campaigning for elections that were won by her Pakistan People's Party in February 2008, Itar-Tass says
In March 2013, Musharraf returned to Pakistan from a five-year self-imposed exile abroad to participate in the country's parliamentary elections. However, the Pakistani justice issued a verdict on taking the former president into custody on the strength of charges of seizure of power, treason, illegal dissolution of the Supreme Court and the organization of extra-judicial executions that were brought against him in his home country. By court decision, Musharraf was placed under house arrest in his residence in a suburb of Islamabad.