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Pakistan's former ruler Pervez Musharraf in court on treason charges Pervez Musharraf pleads not guilty to treason charges in Pakistan court
(about 4 hours later)
A Pakistani court has indicted the former military ruler Pervez Musharraf for treason on charges relating to his imposition of emergency rule in 2007, in an historic first for a country controlled by the army for half its history. Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan's once all powerful military ruler, was indicted on high treason charges in a court appearance despite claims he would be allowed to escape abroad.
Tahira Safdar, one of three judges of a special court convened to hear the case, read out five charges, with the ex-president pleading not guilty to each. Amid a massive security operation on Monday the former president appeared for only the second time in a trial that has dragged on since December to pleaded not guilty to the five charges against him.
Musharraf, 70, who has been absent from most of the tribunal's hearings due to security threats and ill health, told the court: "I honour this court and prosecution, I strongly believe in law and don't have ego problems, and I have appeared in court 16 times in this year in Karachi, Islamabad and Rawalpindi". "I prefer death to surrender," the former army chief told the special court in Islamabad.
Appearing fit and confident, the man who ruled Pakistan from 1999 to 2008 made an emotional speech highlighting the country's achievements under his tenure. It is the first time a civilian court has put a senior member of Pakistan's military establishment on trial.
"I am being called a traitor, I have been chief of army staff for nine years and I have served this army for 45 years. I have fought two wars and it is treason? I am not a traitor. For me traitors are those who loot public money and empty the treasury." It was also a moment that Musharraf's legal team had tried to avoid. Most experts agree he will struggle to defend himself against the charges once the trial begins in earnest.
After the hearing, the chief prosecutor, Akram Sheikh, said Musharraf's main defence rested in the claim that he acted on the advice of the then prime minister, Shaukat Aziz, and the cabinet when suspending the constitution. Security threats and a health scare had enabled Musharraf to largely avoid the indignity of appearing before the court. He has been staying at a military hospital in the garrison city of Rawalpindi since experiencing chest pains in January that he claims can only be treated overseas.
"He has taken the defence that he did not take these steps independently," Sheikh said. "On this I have submitted before the court that it is now for him to prove that he has done this on the advice of the prime minister and the cabinet." His legal team boycotted Monday's proceedings in protest against the lead judge who they claimed had recused himself from the trial after storming out during a previous hearing.
Musharraf declared a state of emergency in November 2007, shortly before the supreme court was due to rule on the legality of his re-election as president a month earlier while he was also the army chief. He then arrested and sacked the country's top judges, including the chief justice, who challenged his decision. But with the support of a new lawyer Musharraf took the opportunity to deliver a lengthy defence of his nine years in power and a firm denial that he was a traitor.
Musharraf has endured a torrid time since returning to Pakistan in March last year on an ill-fated mission to run in the general election. Almost as soon as he landed he was barred from contesting the vote and hit with a barrage of legal cases, including over his decision to raid a radical mosque in Islamabad, the killing of a rebel leader in Baluchistan and the death of the former prime minister Benazir Bhutto. "I am being called a traitor, I have been chief of army staff for nine years and I have served this army for 45 years," he said. "I have fought two wars and it is treason?"
The charges do not relate to the coup he ordered in 1999, but the tail end of his period in power when he declared emergency rule and sacked senior judges.
Pakistan's supreme court has already declared that to be an act of treason.
Speaking on Monday, Musharraf said he acted on the advice of the then prime minister, Shaukat Aziz, and his cabinet.
Although Monday'syesterday's proceedings suggested that the net was tightening around Musharraf, many observers spotted a possible face saving deal that could end the months-long standoff between Pakistan's three power centres: the army, government and judiciary.
Akram Sheikh, the chief prosecutor, did not object Musharraf's request to leave the country to travel to the United Arab Emirates to visit his ailing mother.
A senior member of Musharraf's legal team said he believed a deal had been struck that would spare the military establishment the humiliation of seeing an former army chief sentenced to prison, or even to death.
Musharraf could then return to the life of self-imposed exile he had been leading before his return to Pakistan last spring, when he hoped to contest elections but failed to drum up popular support.