Berlusconi blasts 'feminist' judges
Source: Agencies |
January 10, 2013, Thursday
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MILAN court officials defended the impartiality of their judges yesterday after former Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi blamed "feminist, communist" magistrates for what he said was a 200,000-euro (US$260,000) a day divorce settlement.
Berlusconi made the accusation in an interview on Tuesday with the La7 private television network, his latest in a series of media appearances ahead of Italy's February 24-25 elections.
Italian media initially reported that Berlusconi's divorce from his second wife Veronica Lario would cost him 36 million euros a year. That figure amounts to 3 million euros a month, or about 100,000 euros a day.
But Berlusconi said the figure, with arrears, was double that. While he didn't fully explain how he got to a 200,000-euro a day figure, he said he was ordered to pay Lario 36 million euros a year, with another 72 million euros in arrears.
"These are three women judges, feminists and communists, OK?" he said. "These are the Milan judges who have persecuted me since 1994."
In a joint statement carried by the ANSA news agency yesterday, the president of the Milan tribunal and the head of the appeals court "strongly rejected any insinuation of partiality" of the tribunal's judges, whom they described as "diligent professionals."
The statement said that both sides in the divorce have the right to appeal the decision.
Lario filed for divorce in 2009, citing Berlusconi's fondness for younger women.
The 76-year-old billionaire media mogul, who is currently dating someone nearly 50 years his junior, is on trial in Milan accused of paying for sex with an underage Moroccan teen and using his office to cover it up. Berlusconi and the girl deny the charges.
Berlusconi made the accusation in an interview on Tuesday with the La7 private television network, his latest in a series of media appearances ahead of Italy's February 24-25 elections.
Italian media initially reported that Berlusconi's divorce from his second wife Veronica Lario would cost him 36 million euros a year. That figure amounts to 3 million euros a month, or about 100,000 euros a day.
But Berlusconi said the figure, with arrears, was double that. While he didn't fully explain how he got to a 200,000-euro a day figure, he said he was ordered to pay Lario 36 million euros a year, with another 72 million euros in arrears.
"These are three women judges, feminists and communists, OK?" he said. "These are the Milan judges who have persecuted me since 1994."
In a joint statement carried by the ANSA news agency yesterday, the president of the Milan tribunal and the head of the appeals court "strongly rejected any insinuation of partiality" of the tribunal's judges, whom they described as "diligent professionals."
The statement said that both sides in the divorce have the right to appeal the decision.
Lario filed for divorce in 2009, citing Berlusconi's fondness for younger women.
The 76-year-old billionaire media mogul, who is currently dating someone nearly 50 years his junior, is on trial in Milan accused of paying for sex with an underage Moroccan teen and using his office to cover it up. Berlusconi and the girl deny the charges.
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