KrazyRabidSheep
4th December 2004, 00:10
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/a...erlusconi_trial (http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20041203/ap_on_re_eu/italy_berlusconi_trial)
Italian Court Asked to Acquit Berlusconi
Fri Dec 3, 3:44 PM ET
By ANGELA DOLAND, Associated Press Writer
ROME - Italy's first criminal trial of a sitting prime minister drew toward a close on Friday, with defense lawyers making their final arguments aimed at trying to prevent Silvio Berlusconi from becoming the first convicted politician to hold the nation's most powerful office.
The flamboyant Italian leader's lawyers summed up their case by arguing that convicting Berlusconi of bribing judges in the 1980s would do lasting harm to the country's reputation.
The verdict, defense lawyer Gaetano Pecorella said, "could change the history of this country and leave a mark on Italy's image." Last month, prosecutors urged the court to convict the prime minister and sentence him to eight years in prison.
The prime minister does not face an immediate risk of jail, since Italian law allows for two appeals before a sentence must be served. It might be years before a final ruling is handed down by Italy's slow justice system.
Even if convicted, several analysts said, Berlusconi will probably resist calls to step down until a final appeal is judged.
"In a normal country, if a minister gets convicted, he resigns immediately. But from this point of view, Italy is not a normal country, and Berlusconi will keep his office until the verdict is definite (or after his final appeal)," said Gianfranco Pasquino, a political science professor at the University of Bologna.
Berlusconi, who has always maintained his innocence, did not attend the hearing in Milan. A verdict is expected later this month in the case, which centers on the sale of a state food conglomerate and dates to a time before the billionaire businessman entered politics.
Before taking office in 2001, Berlusconi had faced several criminal cases related to his business empire. In previous trials, he has been acquitted, or his convictions have been reversed on appeal or annulled because of the statute of limitations.
The conservative leader has always insisted he is the innocent victim of what he says are left-leaning prosecutors. He has appeared in court only three times since the trial began in 2000.
Defense lawyer Niccolo Ghedini called the trial "a tragedy involving a good person who has done a lot, both as an entrepreneur and as a politician, for his country," according to the ANSA news agency.
The next hearing is Dec. 9 and gives one last chance for counterarguments before the panel of judges begins deliberations, news reports said.
At the heart of the trial is state food conglomerate SME. In 1985, judges blocked the sale of SME to the Buitoni group led by Carlo De Benedetti, a top Italian industrialist and one of Berlusconi's business rivals.
The prosecution alleged that Berlusconi gave money to one of his close associates, Cesare Previti, to bribe judges in Rome and win the purchase of SME. Berlusconi said he got involved in the deal at the request of Bettino Craxi, premier at the time, and only to serve the nation's interest.
Previti, who served as defense minister in Berlusconi's first government in 1994, was convicted of corruption last year and sentenced to five years in prison, but was cleared of allegations he paid bribes to influence the sale of SME.
The trial did not appear prominently in the papers Friday, a sign that Italians have become accustomed to Berlusconi's legal woes.
The SME trial started in March 2000 but came to a halt with a government-backed law that made the premier and four other top office holders immune from prosecution. It resumed in April after the Constitutional Court ruled that the law violated the principle that all citizens are equal before the law.
Besides being prime minister, Berlusconi is also the country's richest man. His media empire includes Mediaset, the main private TV broadcaster in Italy, as well as advertising, publishing, movie companies and one of the nation's most successful soccer teams, AC Milan. In November, the Financial Times placed him fourth on a list of the most influential billionaires worldwide.
___
Associated Press writer Marta Falconi in Rome contributed to this report.
Italian Court Asked to Acquit Berlusconi
Fri Dec 3, 3:44 PM ET
By ANGELA DOLAND, Associated Press Writer
ROME - Italy's first criminal trial of a sitting prime minister drew toward a close on Friday, with defense lawyers making their final arguments aimed at trying to prevent Silvio Berlusconi from becoming the first convicted politician to hold the nation's most powerful office.
The flamboyant Italian leader's lawyers summed up their case by arguing that convicting Berlusconi of bribing judges in the 1980s would do lasting harm to the country's reputation.
The verdict, defense lawyer Gaetano Pecorella said, "could change the history of this country and leave a mark on Italy's image." Last month, prosecutors urged the court to convict the prime minister and sentence him to eight years in prison.
The prime minister does not face an immediate risk of jail, since Italian law allows for two appeals before a sentence must be served. It might be years before a final ruling is handed down by Italy's slow justice system.
Even if convicted, several analysts said, Berlusconi will probably resist calls to step down until a final appeal is judged.
"In a normal country, if a minister gets convicted, he resigns immediately. But from this point of view, Italy is not a normal country, and Berlusconi will keep his office until the verdict is definite (or after his final appeal)," said Gianfranco Pasquino, a political science professor at the University of Bologna.
Berlusconi, who has always maintained his innocence, did not attend the hearing in Milan. A verdict is expected later this month in the case, which centers on the sale of a state food conglomerate and dates to a time before the billionaire businessman entered politics.
Before taking office in 2001, Berlusconi had faced several criminal cases related to his business empire. In previous trials, he has been acquitted, or his convictions have been reversed on appeal or annulled because of the statute of limitations.
The conservative leader has always insisted he is the innocent victim of what he says are left-leaning prosecutors. He has appeared in court only three times since the trial began in 2000.
Defense lawyer Niccolo Ghedini called the trial "a tragedy involving a good person who has done a lot, both as an entrepreneur and as a politician, for his country," according to the ANSA news agency.
The next hearing is Dec. 9 and gives one last chance for counterarguments before the panel of judges begins deliberations, news reports said.
At the heart of the trial is state food conglomerate SME. In 1985, judges blocked the sale of SME to the Buitoni group led by Carlo De Benedetti, a top Italian industrialist and one of Berlusconi's business rivals.
The prosecution alleged that Berlusconi gave money to one of his close associates, Cesare Previti, to bribe judges in Rome and win the purchase of SME. Berlusconi said he got involved in the deal at the request of Bettino Craxi, premier at the time, and only to serve the nation's interest.
Previti, who served as defense minister in Berlusconi's first government in 1994, was convicted of corruption last year and sentenced to five years in prison, but was cleared of allegations he paid bribes to influence the sale of SME.
The trial did not appear prominently in the papers Friday, a sign that Italians have become accustomed to Berlusconi's legal woes.
The SME trial started in March 2000 but came to a halt with a government-backed law that made the premier and four other top office holders immune from prosecution. It resumed in April after the Constitutional Court ruled that the law violated the principle that all citizens are equal before the law.
Besides being prime minister, Berlusconi is also the country's richest man. His media empire includes Mediaset, the main private TV broadcaster in Italy, as well as advertising, publishing, movie companies and one of the nation's most successful soccer teams, AC Milan. In November, the Financial Times placed him fourth on a list of the most influential billionaires worldwide.
___
Associated Press writer Marta Falconi in Rome contributed to this report.