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An anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Tuesday formally chargesheeted former president Pervez Musharraf in the 2007 assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, lawyers said.
The 70-year-old former president was brought under heavy security to the anti-terrorism court of judge Habibur Rehman in Rawalpindi.
If convicted, Musharraf can be sentenced to death or life imprisonment.
Musharraf denied the allegation on Tuesday in the court and his legal team will continue to defend him in the case in which he has been falsely implicated, the information secretary of his All Pakistan Muslim League, Aasia Ishaq, told PTI.
"He was not in the list of accused till 2008 but later his name was included on the basis of an email by Benazir to the US journalist Mark Segal," said Ishaq.
"When this email has been considered by the court, why it has not considered another email by her to Musharraf in which she nominated three people as culprits for her (future) murder."
Ishaq said that the court has fixed next hearing on August 28 and the former president will now face the trial in the case.
Benazir was assassinated in a suicide attack and firing in Rawalpindi December 27, 2007, after she addressed an election campaign rally.
ATC judge Rehman also indicted six others accused in the case, including two former police officers.
The Federal Investigative Agency (FIA), investigating the murder, had submitted a chargesheet against him in the ATC in the garrison city of Rawalpindi near Islamabad.
The FIA presented a four-point chargesheet against Musharraf in the ATC, accusing him of hatching a conspiracy, in connection with the killing of Benazir Bhutto.
FIA officials said that the chargesheet has been prepared on the basis of Siegel's statement, who had claimed that Musharraf called and threatened Benazir when he was sitting with her.
Siegel, who once served as lobbyist for Benazir Bhutto in the US, had also stated that Benazir had told him that Musharraf would be responsible for any harm to her.
He had earlier stated that he was with Bhutto in London when Musharraf denied the allegations.
The chargesheet stated that the statement of the American established Musharraf as the prime accused in Benazir's murder. It also levelled terrorism accusations against the former president. The document stated that Musharraf has failed to prove his innocence in the case.
The ATC had last year summoned Siegel to personally appear in the court and record his statement.
Musharraf had blamed her killing on Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud, who denied any involvement. Mehsud was killed in a US drone strike in 2009.
However, he was barred by a Pakistani court from contesting polls for the rest of his life.
The former President is also facing charges in other cases, including the killing of Baloch leader Akbar Bugti in a military operation in 2006 and for taking unconstitutional steps by imposing emergency and removing judges in 2007.
The former president was chargesheeted in Bhutto's murder case weeks after Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif announced that high treason case against him would be initiated for abrogating the constitution.
Musharraf was arrested and remanded to judicial custody for a fortnight in June this year over the murder of tribal elder Nawab Akbar Bugti who was killed in military operation in 2006.
His indictment is an unprecedented event in Pakistan that is ruled by the military for half of its 66-year history.
He has been kept at his home in Islamabad over security concerns. His house has been declared as a sub-jail.
