30/07/2013 18:02
Musharraf to be charged with Bhutto's murder next week
Prosecutors at a Pakistani court will next week charge former military ruler Pervez Musharraf with criminal conspiracy and the murder of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto, lawyers said Tuesday, according to AFP.
Musharraf, once the most powerful man in the nuclear-armed country, has been under house arrest since April. He appeared before the anti-terrorism court in person on Tuesday.
Indicting a former army chief would be an unprecedented move in a country ruled for more than half of its life by the military.
It would be seen by many as a far more serious challenge to the armed forces' power than his house arrest was.
Bhutto, twice elected prime minister of Pakistan, was assassinated in a gun and bomb attack in December 2007 after campaigning in the garrison city of Rawalpindi.
"Pervez Musharraf appeared before anti-terrorism court today," prosecutor Chaudhry Azhar told AFP.
"Judge Chaudhry Habibur Rehman fixed the next hearing on August 6 for General Musharraf's indictment," Azhar said.