Musharraf indicted on 3 counts in Bhutto case: Prosecutor

A court in Pakistan has indicted former President Pervez Musharraf on three counts in a case over the 2007 assassination of opposition leader and ex-Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, a public prosecutor says.

Musharraf “was charged with murder, criminal conspiracy for murder and facilitation for murder,” Public Prosecutor Chaudhry Azhar said at the anti-terrorism court on Tuesday.

Azhar went on to say that the former military ruler, however, denied the charges and that, “The case has been adjourned until August 27 for evidence to be brought.”

Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Bhutto was killed in a gun-and-bomb attack on December 27, 2007 as she was leaving an election rally in the city of Rawalpindi, 9 miles from Islamabad, in Punjab Province.

Musharraf was accused of failing to provide enough security for Bhutto after she returned from exile on October 18, 2007.

The former army general, who seized power in a coup in October 1999, stepped down as president in August 2008, about six months after his allies lost parliamentary elections in February 2008 and the new government threatened to impeach him. A year later, he left the country.

In March 2013, Musharraf returned to Pakistan after nearly four years of self-imposed exile in London and Dubai to run in the May 11 parliamentary election.

Since his return, Musharraf has faced a series of charges relating to his rule.