Pakistani court declares Musharraf fugitive in ex-PM murder trial

Pakistani court calls former president Pervez Musharraf an "absconder" and acquits five people accused of involvement in former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto assasination.

In this Saturday, April 20, 2013 file photo, Pakistans former President and military ruler Pervez Musharraf arrives at an anti-terrorism court in Islamabad, Pakistan.
AP

In this Saturday, April 20, 2013 file photo, Pakistans former President and military ruler Pervez Musharraf arrives at an anti-terrorism court in Islamabad, Pakistan.

A Pakistani anti-terrorism court in Rawalpindi on Thursday declared ex-military leader Pervez Musharraf an "absconder" in the murder case of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and acquitted five people accused of being involved in the 2007 assassination.

Bhutto was assassinated in a suicide and gun attack in Rawalpindi in 2007, weeks after she returned from exile to campaign in elections to bring back civilian rule.

Former president and military ruler Musharraf is alleged to have been part of a broad conspiracy to have his political rival killed before elections.

He was charged with murder, criminal conspiracy for murder, and facilitation for murder in 2013, in an unprecedented move against an ex-army chief.

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As an absconder, Musharraf legally must be arrested and brought to trial if he returns to Pakistan after being allowed to leave the country in 2016.

"There will be no justice till Pervez Musharraf answers for his crimes!" Bhutto's daughter Aseefa Zardari tweeted moments after the statement.

The court also ordered Musharraf's property in Pakistan to be seized.

Court acquits five in murder case

The court acquitted five men who had been accused of being Taliban militants involved in the conspiracy to kill Bhutto.

They were set to walk free nearly 10 years after they were first arrested, though a defence lawyer said it was not yet clear when they would be released.

But the judges found two police officers guilty of "mishandling the crime scene", the court official said.

The police officers – Saud Aziz, who was chief of Rawalpindi police at the time, and senior officer Khurram Shahzad – are now the only two people to have been convicted over Bhutto's assassination.

AFP

A Pakistani anti-terrorism court official (C) announces the verdict for ex-Prime Minister Benazir Bhuttos murder trial at Adyala Prison in Rawalpindi on August 31, 2017.

Shahzad was accused of hosing down the crime scene less than two hours after the assassination took place – an act the UN described in a report into the assassination as "fundamentally inconsistent with Pakistani police practice".

Aziz was accused of both giving Shahzad permission to hose down the scene, and of refusing to allow an autopsy of Bhutto's body to go ahead.

They were each been sentenced to 17 years imprisonment and fined $4,700 (500,000 rupees ), according to a court order.

"Inadequate protection"

Musharraf's government blamed the assassination on Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud, who denied any involvement.

He was killed in a US drone attack in 2009.

In 2010, the UN report accused Musharraf's government of failing to give Bhutto adequate protection and said her death could have been prevented.

Musharraf has denied the allegations.

But he has been in self-imposed exile in Dubai ever since a travel ban was lifted three years later.

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