Pakistani PM charged with contempt
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E-mail Xinhua, February 13, 2012
Pakistan's Supreme Court on Monday formally indicted Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani for contemp over his failure to reopen graft cases against President Asif Ali Zardari, Gilani's defence lawyer said.
Head of the seven-member bench of the apex court, Justice Nasir- ul-Mulk read out the charge sheet in the presence of Gilani in the packed court room.
The Prime Minister rejected the charges and did not apologize for disobeying the Supreme Court order to revive graft cases against President Zardari.
The Prime Minister pleaded not guilty when he appeared before the court along with his defence lawyer Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan.
The Supreme Court adjourned the hearing till Feb. 22 and the Attorney General was asked to submit evidences against the Prime Minister on Feb. 16.
The court also exempted the Prime Minister from personal appearance at the next hearing.
Gilani said on Sunday that the President enjoys immunity from prosecution under Pakistan's constitution and that the cases against President Zardari are politically motivated.
He told Qatar's Al-Jazeera TV in Islamabad that he would resign if the apex court convicted him of contemp and banned him from holding any public office.
The controversy started in 2009 when the Supreme Court scrapped an amnesty law and ordered reopening of all corruption cases against President Zardari and nearly 8,000 people.
Corruption charges were dropped when former President Pervez Musharraf issued the National Reconciliation Ordinance in 2007 after a deal was struck with former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.
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