ISLAMABAD, (Reuters) – Pakistan’s Supreme Court charged the embattled prime minister with contempt of court today for his refusal to re-open old corruption cases against President Asif Ali Zardari, complicating the country’s political crisis.
Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani has said that if he was convicted he would be forced to step down. He could also face up to six months in jail.
However, the case – which has raised tension between Pakistan’s civilian leaders and the Supreme Court – is expected to drag on and paralyse decision-making.
“You, Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani, have willfully disobeyed the direction of this court,” said Justice Nasir-ul-Mulk, the head of the seven-judge bench hearing the case. “Thereby you have committed contempt of court … and you are to be tried.”
The judge asked for a plea and Gilani answered that he was not guilty.
Proceedings will start on Feb. 16 when the prosecution will submit its evidence.
The hearing lasted less than half an hour and Gilani left soon after, waving confidently to crowds of lawyers huddled under gloomy grey skies and a persistent drizzle. The black-suited lawyers divided themselves into two factions, chanting support for either the government or the Supreme Court.
The civilian-judicial confrontation stems from thousands of old corruption cases thrown out in 2007 by an amnesty law passed under former military president Pervez Musharraf.
Zardari is its most prominent beneficiary and the main target of the court, which voided the law in 2009 and ordered the re-opening of cases accusing the president of money laundering using Swiss bank accounts.
Gilani and his advisers have refused to ask the Swiss to reopen the cases, citing the president’s constitutional immunity as head of state. The prime minister had appealed against the court’s decision to charge him with contempt, but that appeal was dismissed, paving the way for Monday’s indictment.
