(from New York Times)
By RACHEL DONADIO
ROME — A court in Milan on Monday found former Prime Minister Silvio
Berlusconi guilty of paying for sex with a minor and abusing his office
to cover it up, handing him a seven-year jail sentence and banning him
from public office for life.
The ruling, like most things involving Mr. Berlusconi, polarized Italy.
It shook the governing coalition in which Mr. Berlusconi’s center-right
party is participating, but was not expected to topple it. The former
prime minister, who denies wrongdoing, does not immediately have to
leave office while the case faces two rounds of appeals.
The trial, involving an under-age woman named Karima El-Mahroug,
nicknamed “Ruby Heart-Stealer,” had become the most personal, and
tawdry, of Mr. Berlusconi’s many legal sagas. The three presiding
judges, all women, handed Mr. Berlusconi a seven-year sentence, tougher
than the six years that prosecutors had requested.
Demonstrators, both pro and anti-Berlusconi, gathered outside the Milan
courthouse for the ruling, and the courtroom was packed with journalists
from around the world.
Mr. Berlusconi, 76, who is widely seen as remaining in politics in order
to keep his parliamentary immunity and to protect his business
interests — has vehemently denied all the charges, accusing prosecutors
of being on a left-wing witch hunt against him. His critics wonder how
it is possible that he can remain in office in light of his legal woes.
The ruling inevitably puts strains on the nearly two-month-old
government of Prime Minister Enrico Letta, a coalition that unites the
prime minister’s center-left Democratic Party with Mr. Berlusconi’s
People of Liberty party for the first time.
In the coalition, Mr. Berlusconi has been fighting to abolish an
unpopular property-tax increase imposed by former Prime Minister Mario
Monti, and wants to delay raising Italy’s value-added tax, measures
Italy had committed to in order to bring its budget deficit below 3
percent of gross domestic product.
But Mr. Letta’s tenure has largely been overshadowed by Mr. Berlusconi’s legal troubles.
Both Mr. Berlusconi and Ms. Mahroug say they did not have sex, although
Ms. Mahroug said the prime minister gave her 7,000 euros, or about
$9,100, the first time she visited his villa for a party in 2010. The
judges found Mr. Berlusconi guilty of paying Ms. Mahroug for sex before
she turned 18 and abusing his office in calling the police to intervene
when she was detained in May 2010 for theft.
Mr. Berlusconi had said he called the police in order to avoid a
diplomatic incident because he had been told that Ms. Mahroug was the
niece of Hosni Mubarak, then the president of Egypt.
In the trial, which began more than two years ago, Milan prosecutors
painted a picture in which young women attended parties at Mr.
Berlusconi’s private residence near Milan in exchange for money and
gifts.
They said the evenings were orchestrated by a former news anchor on one
of Mr. Berlusconi’s television networks, a show business agent and a
former dental hygienist-turned regional politician. All three face trial
separately and deny wrongdoing.
In a testimony in the separate trial for the three aides, Ms. El-Mahroug
said that she received up to 3,000 euros in cash for the half-dozen
evenings that she attended what have become famously known in Italy as
“bunga bunga” parties at Mr. Berlusconi’s house. Other women testified
that they lived in apartments owned by Mr. Berlusconi in Milan at the
time of the parties, and some said they still receive money from him.
During the trial, a Brazilian model and showgirl said she had worn a
mask depicting President Obama to one party at the former prime
minister’s house, while another dressed up like one of the prosecutors
overseeing the Ruby trial itself.
Ms. El-Mahroug testified last month that the in-house disco in Mr.
Berlusconi’s villa had a pole for erotic dancing where a former regional
politician dressed up like a nun and performed a strip tease.
While the “Ruby Trial” has become a media spectacle, Mr. Berlusconi’s
political career — and with it the stability of the Letta government —
hinge on a separate trial in which Mr. Berlusconi has been convicted of
tax fraud by two lower courts in a case involving his Mediaset
television empire.
The final ruling by Italy’s highest court is expected later this year.
If it upholds the lower court rulings, Mr. Berlusconi could be banned
from holding public office for five years, with parliamentary approval.
But under Italian custom, the former prime minister would most likely
not go to prison because of his age.
According to Italian news media reports, Mr. Berlusconi wants President
Giorgio Napolitano to appoint him a senator for life so he can keep his
immunity.
