­It’s the destiny of many great leaders to be assassinated. Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was one of them.  On 27 December 2007 she and more than 20 others were killed in a suicide bombing in Rawalpindi during an election campaign.

Two weeks ago, a Pakistani court concluded its trial and formally charged seven people, including two senior police officers and five suspected Taliban militants, for their role in Benazir Bhutto’s murder.

Benazir was born into a wealthy and powerful family. Her father Zulfikar Ali Bhutto served as Prime Minister, as well as President of Pakistan. Benazir was the eldest child, and her father passed his knowledge and hopes on to her, not to his eldest son Murtaza, against the traditions of Pakistani society.

During her life, Benazir enjoyed wealth, a great education, power and admiration from her people, but she had to suffer a lot as well. Her father, to whom she was very close, was hanged by the new military government in 1979. She spent most of her life either in prison in the most horrible conditions, or in exile. In 1985, her youngest brother Shahnawaz died from poisoning while the Bhutto family was on holiday in France.

Shahnawaz’s Afgan wife was suspected, but no charges followed. Nobody was ever convicted of his murder. In 1996 Benazir’s other brother Murtaza was killed in Pakistan. Both Benazir and her husband Asif Ali Zardari were suspected, the trial dragged on for 13 years, but no charges were made.  During this time Asif spent over 11 years in prison with no convictions made against him, while Benazir was taking care of their three children and her mother Nusrat, who was suffering from Alzheimer’s.

Benazir was Prime Minister twice, from 1988 to 1990 and from 1993 to 1996. When she was first elected, she became not only the first female head of a Muslim state, but also the youngest Prime Minister in Pakistan at the age of 35. Every day while she was in office, she had to prove she was as good as a man. She was heavily pregnant during the election campaign in 1988, but did not stop campaigning and gave birth just weeks before the vote. Benazir gave birth to her other child during her time as Prime Minister, and was back in the office on the day of her child’s birth. However, she should not be compared to other powerful women in the world, such as Margaret Thatcher, Golda Meir, or Indira Gandhi. They were all famous for been as strong as men, yet Benazir remained a woman.

When she was assassinated in December 2007, the Pakistani government was quick to hide all possible tracks which might help find Benazir’s killers. The very first order from Pervez Musharraf, then Pakistani President, was to wash off the crime scene, a decision that significantly complicated the investigation.

In March 2010, a specially created UN Commission of Inquiry published a highly critical report that appeared to push Pakistan to finish the trial and convict Benazir’s assassins. But the trial that ended earlier this month did not bring satisfactory results. As the UN investigators feared, the Pakistani officials “focused on pursuing lower level operatives and placed little to no focus on investigating those further up the hierarchy in the planning, financing and execution of the assassination”. Even the fact that Benazir’s widower Asif Ali Zardari became Pakistani President did not help to endorse the investigation efforts.

The Commission recognized that Benazir Bhutto did face “threats from a number of sources; these included Al-Qaida, the Taliban, local jihadi groups and potentially… elements in the Pakistani Establishment”, but with the trial over, it is still not clear who really is responsible for the murder.

Many in Pakistan believe that Pervez Musharraf should stand trial – if not for ordering the murder, then for not providing the necessary security arrangements for Benazir, knowing the threats she was facing.

Just a few weeks before her death, she sent an email to her friend Mark Siegel that adds another piece to this puzzle. The email said “Nothing will, God willing happen.  Just wanted u to know if it does in addition to the names in my letter to Musharraf of Oct 16th, I wld hold Musharraf responsible. B” We will never know what she knew, or whether her fears were based on any evidence or suspicion only. General Musharraf to avoid impeachment resigned from office in August 2008, and now lives in exile in London.

As it is the destiny of many great leaders to be assassinated, it is also the destiny of their assassins, never to be found.

­The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.