International desk: Five accused persons in the Pakistan former prime minister Benazir Bhutto murder case were exonerated of all charges on Thursday as the Anti-Terrorism Court hearing the case for over nine years announced its verdict, Geo News reports.
ATC Judge Asghar Khan announced the verdict in court, where former Rawalpindi CPO Saud Aziz and former Rawal Town SP Khurram Shahzad — suspects out on bail — were also present.
Aziz and Shahzad were sentenced to 17 years in prison and ordered to pay a fine of Rs0.5 million each.
Moreover, Pakistan former president gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf was declared an absconder.
Former two-time premier Ms Bhutto was killed in a gun and bomb attack in Rawalpindi on December 27, 2007, when she came out of a park after addressing an election rally. A case was registered soon after the assassination and the trial went through many ups and down until it was concluded yesterday in Rawalpindi.
The trial of former military ruler Pervez Musharraf, who was the President when Ms Bhutto was killed and who is one of those accused, will be held separately on his return to Pakistan, the judge had said yesterday.
Saud Aziz was the Rawalpindi police chief when Ms Bhutto was assassinated.
He and another police officer Kurrum Shehzad were among the accused; they were arrested initially but released on bail in 2011.
