A government called to answer a criminal charge (7)
I believe the answer is:
arraign
'charge' is the definition.
(I know that arraign is a kind of accuse)
'a government called to answer a criminal' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'a' is found in the answer.
'government' could be 'g' (abbreviation for government) and 'g' is present in the answer.
'answer' could be 'a' (abbreviation eg in Q and A) and 'a' is present in the answer.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for arraign that I've seen before include "Impeach" , "Call before a court to answer an indictment" , "Complain about" , "Bring to court to answer a charge" , "Accuse, put on trial" .)