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Pakistan’s ex-President Musharraf sentenced to death — media

Musharraf served as the country’s president in 2001-2008
Pakistan’s former President Pervez Musharraf AP Photo/Anjum Naveed
Pakistan’s former President Pervez Musharraf
© AP Photo/Anjum Naveed

MOSCOW, December 17. /TASS/. A special court in Pakistan has sentenced the country’s former President Pervez Musharraf to death for high treason, the Dawn newspaper wrote on Tuesday.

According to the newspaper, the verdict was announced by a three-member bench of the special court, headed by Peshawar High Court Chief Justice Waqar Ahmad Seth. The court found Musharraf guilty of high treason under Article 6 of the country’s constitution.

The newspaper pointed out that "the verdict announced by the special court today was the one it had reserved on November 19." The special court said then that it would announce the verdict on November 28 but the government filed a petition with the Islamabad High Court, requesting that "the special court be restrained from passing final judgement in the trial".

Musharraf, 76, served as the country’s President in 2001-2008. The charges against him are based on his move to suspend the constitution and impose emergency rule in 2007. He also issued the National Reconciliation Ordinance, granting amnesty to politicians who had been accused of corruption between 1986 and 1999. Musharraf had to resign in 2008 amid strong resistance from opposition parties. The former Pakistani president currently resides in Dubai, where he moved for medical treatment in 2016.