An Italian court on Wednesday acquitted former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi of charges of corruption of witnesses to get them to lie about their controversial “bunga bunga” parties.
The judge held that “the fact does not exist”, ie that the accusation against Berlusconi and about twenty women who attended those parties in which prostitutes and even minors allegedly participated was not proven.
“I can only be extremely pleased,” Federico Cecconi, the lawyer for the billionaire media mogul and 86-year-old senator, told reporters after the verdict.
Cecconi stressed that this sentence from the Milan court is the third acquittal in this case for Berlusconi.
“Three out of three is enough,” he said, expressing that he doesn’t want the prosecution to appeal.
Berlusconi, who did not appear on Wednesday, He has already been cleared of witness tampering charges. in two chapters of the process in 2021 in Siena and in 2022 in Rome.
The Milan prosecutor had accused the Italian politician that the payments made to various young women and musicians present at his parties had been made for buy your silence.
Berlusconi – whose Forza Italia party is a partner in Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s ruling coalition – has faced countless lawsuits in recent decades, winning nearly all of them.
The 86-year-old tycoon, who is slowly moving away from active politics, continues to barge in from time to time even today.
On Sunday he criticized Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky and defended Vladimir Putin, angering his right-wing government allies and embarrassing Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
The “Ruby Portal”
The first Ruby trial, known as “Rubygate”, in reference to the young Moroccan Karima El-Mahroug, known by that nickname, then a minor and who was one of the special guests at his parties, earned Berlusconi a sentenced to seven years in June 2013 for child prostitution and abuse of power in the first degree.
But the communication magnate was definitively acquitted in March 2015 by the Court of Cassation.
In the case known as Ruby-bis, several close friends and collaborators of Berlusconi were brought to trial after being accused of supplying him with young prostitutes for his clubbing.
Among them was a well-known TV host sentenced to 4 years and 7 months in prison.
This Wednesday, the woman herself expressed her relief: “Ruby was all an invention and my name is still Karima. Today a nightmare is over. I need time to digest it, but I’m happy that part of the truth is finally coming out,” he told the press after hearing the verdict.
bribes
The trial concerned payments made by Berlusconi to the women and musicians who attended his parties.
For the prosecution, the silence of these young women cost the tycoon about ten million euros (almost the same in dollars) between 2011 and 2015, including the seven million for Ruby.
It involved cash payments, gifts, cars, leases, utility bills, and medical bills.
Berlusconi’s defense claims the money was compensation for reputational damage to those involved in the case and insisted he be judged for his “generosity”.
During her indictment, prosecutor Tiziana Siciliano described Berlusconi as a sort of “sultan” who used to “enliven her evenings with a group of odalisques, paid sex slaves, hired to entertain.”
Source: AFP
Source: Clarin
Mary Ortiz is a seasoned journalist with a passion for world events. As a writer for News Rebeat, she brings a fresh perspective to the latest global happenings and provides in-depth coverage that offers a deeper understanding of the world around us.