Top court set to review Berlusconi’s acquittal
Print Edition
Italy’s top court yesterday reviewed former premier Silvio Berlusconi’s acquittal on charges of paying for sex with an underage exotic dancer known as “Ruby the heart stealer.”
In a hearing that could make or break the media tycoon’s hopes of a return to the frontline of politics, judges at the Court of Cassation will decide whether to uphold an appeal court’s decision to clear Berlusconi of the most serious charges he has faced in his scandal-stained career. The AC Milan owner was convicted in June 2013 of having paid-for sex with Ruby when she was 17, a year younger than the legal minimum for a prostitute in Italy.
He was also found to have abused his power to try and cover up what went on at his infamous “bunga bunga” sex parties, resulting in a seven-year prison sentence and a ban from public office.
If his acquittal is upheld, Berlusconi will be free to spearhead opposition to landmark political reforms Prime Minister Matteo Renzi is trying to guide through parliament.
If the ruling goes against him, the fresh appeal trial will have to take place, an outcome analysts said will dent Berlusconi’s authority over his declining Forza Italia party and could be the final curtain in a political career which has seen him serve three terms as Italy’s premier.
“For Berlusconi’s immediate future, the outcome is quite crucial,” said Giovanni Orsina, an academic at the LUISS business school in Rome.
Orsina said Berlusconi’s legal woes have helped Renzi dominate the political landscape.
“Berlusconi’s clarity of mind basically disappeared (with the tax conviction),” he said.
“Since then ... politically, he is in a coma but the moment he draws his final breath is not predictable. Further judicial problems could bring that moment,” he said.
“But if the case goes his way — and my feeling is that it is likely to — then he remains a very powerful man.”
Renzi relied on support from Berlusconi to steer landmark labor reforms through parliament late last year.
But the alliance collapsed last month after Renzi successfully backed an actively anti-Berlusconi candidate, Sergio Mattarella, to become Italy’s new president.
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