(Italy) Constitutional court reconsiders Berlusconi immunity

[demoleft]

Source: france24

Italy’s constitutional court begins reviewing Tuesday a law passed in July 2008 that gives Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi immunity from prosecution. If the law is considered unconstitutional, criminal cases involving him could become active.

One of these is the Mills affair, in which he allegedly bribed a British lawyer, David Mills, to give false testimony at two trials in the late 1990s. The perjury was allegedly designed to conceal tax havens he created for Berlusconi in the guise of the prime minister's family holding, Fininvest. Mills was given a four-and-a-half year prison sentence in February for his role in the affair.

Berlusconi was not tried, as the immunity law made this impossible. The law was passed just six weeks after his third term in office.

Berlusconi’s luck has already taken a turn for the worse. Milan’s civil court ruled Saturday that Fininvest had to pay 750 million euros in compensation to the Compagnie Industriali Riunite. According to the ruling, a judge had been bribed to allow Fininvest to wrest Mondadori publishing house from CIR in 1991.


Read more: http://www.france24.com/en/20091006-italy-constitutional-court-reconsiders-silvio-berlusconi-immunity

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the king is lonely.

his political mind gianni letta made two steps back and hid behind the curtains of the stage, especially after the "escort" girls matter. for the same reason the catholic church, with its admonishments on morality in politics, stopped backing up the centre right government. fini, former leader of Alleanza Nazionale, is now distant from him and the Lega Nord extremists provoke stomachache to the allies.
not to talk of berlusconi wife who left him months ago.

ah - and his Milan, the soccer team, is doing one of the worst championships ever. which makes me satisfied twice, i'm a supporter of the other milan team, Inter. ;)

[Vidar]

1. I hope the court runs with this.

[demoleft]

2. really a decisive moment here in italy. the defense line goes like this:

1) the law is equal for everybody, but its application and effectiveness is not, necessarily.
2) the premier is not primus inter pares but primus super pares, because according to new recent laws the first minister is not like the other representatives.

so this is the dam. we'll see.

[Vidar]

3. Just another way of saying Il Duce.