Silvio Berlusconi abuse of power...

Silvio Berlusconi’s abuse of power...

The judge of the Court of Milan, Cristina Di Censo, accepted the prosecution request to try the Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi for abuse of power andprostitution by a minor, a process which start on 6 April.  The judge ruled that the prime minister, 74 years old, will stand trial before the criminal section four Milanese court judges by Carmen D’Elia, Giulia Orsola De Cristofaro and Turri.

Di Censo considered that there was ‘strong evidence’ to prosecute Berlusconi, accused of prostitution by a minor for his alleged links with the Moroccan Karim El Mahroug, known as Ruby, when she was 17 years old.

Berlusconi is also accused of extortion (abuse of power) by having pressed the police last May in Milan to release a Ruby, who had been arrested for theft.  “With this date the preliminary inquiry judge, Cristina Di Censo, has deposited the decree which states, based on Articles 453 and following of the penal code, the immediate trial against Silvio Berlusconi honorable, “said a judicial notice.

The prime minister’s lawyers, Niccolo Ghedini Piero Longo and stated that ‘we do not expect anything different.” Following disclosure of the decree, Berlusconi has 15 days time to decide whether recourse to alternative procedures, in case of conviction provided for a discount of one third of the sentence.  According to the decree, the trial will be part of Ruby, because the mayor had had sex with her when she was underage and would have paid.

Berlusconi’s phone call was recorded and it is heard that said, falsely, that Ruby should be released now because it was a relative of former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

Posted in: Silvio Berlusconi