- Title: ITALY: COURT DROPS CORRUPTION CHARGES AGAINST BERLUSCONI.
- Date: 11th December 2004
- Summary: (W6) MILAN, ITALY (DECEMBER 10, 2004) (REUTERS) 1. GV/TILT DOWN: EXTERIOR OF COURT 0.07 2. MV/GV/PAN: JOURNALISTS WAITING INSIDE COURTHOUSE FOR VERDICT (5 SHOTS) 0.29 3. GV: JUDGE WALKING TO BENCH TO GIVE VERDICT, CUTAWAY MEDIA (2 SHOTS) 0.39 4. (SOUNDBITE) (Italian) CHIEF JUDGE, FRANCESCO CASTELLANO, READING OUT SENTENCE SAYING: "I
- Embargoed: 26th December 2004 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: ROME AND MILAN, ITALY
- Country: Italy
- Reuters ID: LVACARG5J0BQU8NIPSJMQ585ZGDV
- Story Text: Italian court drops corruption charges against
Berlusconi invoking a statue of limitations that meant time
had run out to press charges.
An Italian court dropped corruption charges against
Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi on Friday (December 10),
invoking a statute of limitations that meant time had run
out to press a conviction.
The ruling, read to a packed Milan court, implied that
68-year-old Berlusconi was guilty as charged of complicity
in bribing a Rome judge but could not be sentenced because
of the time limit.
The court then fully acquitted Berlusconi of a second
charge of graft.
Chief judge Francesco Castellano retired to a hotel to
consider their ruling after nearly five years of hearings
and controversy on Thursday (December 9).
Berlusconi said on Thursday he felt he had not had
enough time to review the documentation surrounding the
trial due to the pressures of running the country.
"I believe that a suspect should have all the necessary
time to be able to defend himself. The prime minister, in
taking care of the interests of his country, has not had
even one minute to taking interest in a trial which
directly involves him," He said.
Berlusconi, a billionaire media mogul and the first
serving Italian prime minister to stand in a criminal
trial, was accused of corrupting the Rome judiciary in the
late 1980s and again in 1991 to win favourable rulings for
his Fininvest company.
The prime minister always maintained his innocence and
said he was the victim of a politically-motivated legal
witchhunt.
State prosecutors said he had authorised massive
bribes and had demanded an 8-year prison term and called
for Berlusconi to be barred from public office for life.
One of Fininvests lawyers and a judge were found guilty in
the same case last year.
However, under Italian law, a court can accept
mitigating circumstances for a defendant with a clean
criminal record and halve the usual 15-year statute of
limitations.
As the most recent charge dated back to 1991,
Berlusconi was automatically saved from a potentially
devastating guilty verdict and prison term.
"The acquittal of Mr Berlusconi is obviously a very
important boost for him because basically it ends this long
process with the judiciary. He certainly comes out very
strong in the political scene out of this verdict,"
explained political analyst Franco Pavoncello.
"He comes out scot free, he comes out vindicated by
the decision of the court so certainly he is in a very
strong moment as a result of this which is complimented by
the new policy he has undertaken of tax cuts which has
given a big boost to his government so in this moment after
this decision, he looks pretty strong," said Pavoncello.
Opposition politicians said the verdict left a shadow
over Berlusconi's ability to govern because the court had
not declared him fully innocent and had used a legal
mechanism that prevented sentencing.
He and other opposition politicians called on
Berlusconi to step down.
"Berlusconi comes out with a shadow or two from this
first degree trial. I am among those who have never
believed, never said that there was a judicial to eliminate
Berlusconi from the government. I still remain firmly
convinced of this, even had he been convicted. The shadows
of this trial are only further reasons to increase and
strengthen our political position and work to give Italy an
alternative government to this one. I hope that from today
onwards, even Berlusconi understands that he is
not a fully legitimate prime minister of this country,
"said opposition member of Green Party Paolo Cento.
Berlusconi, a billionaire media mogul and the first
serving Italian prime minister to stand in a criminal
trial, was accused of bribing the Rome judiciary in the
late 1980s and again in 1991 to win favourable rulings for
his Fininvest company.
The prime minister always maintained his innocence
and said he was the victim of a politically-motivated legal
witchhunt.
State prosecutors said he had authorised massive
bribes and had demanded an 8-year prison term.
However, under Italian law, a court can accept
mitigating circumstances for a defendant with a clean
criminal record and halve the usual 15-year statute of
limitations.
As the charge dated back to 1991, Berlusconi was
automatically saved from a potentially devastating verdict.
"I don't know if the judges made the right decision -
this is the law and if the judges decided this well maybe
the law is not a good one," said Emilio.
"Rather than invoking a statute of limitations, it
would have been more correct to have acquitted him, "said
Massimiliano.
Berlusconi's lawyer Gaetano Pecorella told reporters
that the prime minister would nonetheless appeal the ruling
and seek a full acquittal in both counts of corruption.
While Berlusconi has faced several investigations and
trials into corruption charges tied to his business
dealings, the bribery charge was the most serious case
brought against him.
It revolved around accusations that Fininvest paid off
Rome judges to win a takeover battle for state-owned food
firm SME.
In a twin trial that ended last year, a Milan court
found one of Berlusconis former lawyers, Cesare Previti,
guilty of bribing judge Renato Squillante -- not over SME
but to secure a favourable legal climate for Fininvest in
Rome legal circles.
Previti was handed a five-year prison term and
Squillante an eight-year term. Both men are appealing.
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