berlusconi, gets 7 years

Looks like they finally have caught up with him. He will die of old age before they finally put him in a cell.


Silvio Berlusconi, former Italian prime minister, sentenced to jail for paying for sex with underage prostitute
By Europe correspondent Barbara Miller, wires
Updated 22 minutes ago


PHOTO: The court found that Silvio Berlusconi (L) paid for sex with nightclub dancer Karima El-Mahroug (R), nicknamed Ruby the Heart Stealer, when she was underage. (AFP: Alberto Lingria/Giuseppe Aresu)
VIDEO: Philip Williams reports on Silvio Berlusconi's jail sentence (ABC News)
MAP: Italy
Former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi has been found guilty of paying for sex with a prostitute and abusing his powers of office.

A Milan court has sentenced Berlusconi to seven years in jail and banned him from public office after a salacious two-year trial known as Rubygate.

The court found the former leader paid for sex with nightclub dancer Karima El-Mahroug when she was underage.

He was also found to have abused his power of office when he intervened after she was arrested on allegations of theft.

Berlusconi was not in court for the ruling and will appeal the sentence, a process likely to take years.

He is unlikely to ever go to jail because of his age, but the ban on public office could eventually be upheld.

Berlusconi insists he is "utterly innocent" and accused the judges of persecution.

Key points

Silvio Berlusconi sentenced to seven years jail for paying for sex with underage prostitute and a subsequent cover-up
The 76-year-old former Italian prime minister insists he is "utterly innocent"
Trial revolves around so-called "bunga bunga" erotic parties held at Berlusconi's luxury residence outside Milan in 2010
Berlusconi's spokesman says the verdict was a "bid to eliminate [him] from the political scene"
The sentence went beyond the request of prosecutors, who had called for the 76-year-old billionaire to serve six years, and could spark serious tensions within Italy's uneasy grand coalition government.

"I was truly convinced I would be absolved because there was absolutely no possibility of being found guilty based on the evidence," Berlusconi said.

"I intend to resist the persecution because I am absolutely innocent and I don't want to abandon my fight to make Italy a truly free and just country."

The two-year trial kicked off a media frenzy over allegations that Berlusconi consorted with strippers dressed as nuns and held erotic party games with topless girls.

The verdict sparked cheers and applause from anti-Berlusconi protesters outside the court.


AUDIO: Listen to Barbara Miller's report (AM)
The media magnate's cronies, many of whom took to Twitter in disgust, described the verdict as "utterly shameful" and "a political verdict, a coup d'etat".

Berlusconi's spokesman Paolo Bonaiuti said it confirmed "the bid to eliminate Berlusconi from the political scene... but the attempt, which has gone beyond the limits of credibility, will fail".

Berlusconi's lawyer, Niccolo Ghedini, said the sentence was "completely illogical".

Italy's interior minister, Angelo Alfano, the secretary of Berlusconi's People of Freedom (PDL) party, said the verdict was "worse than the worst-case scenario" and urged him to "soldier on", a possible reference to his support for the government.

The coalition relies on the support of the PDL, and observers had warned the capricious billionaire could pull the rug out from under the government if he felt it was not offering him legal protection.

Bunga bunga parties and Ruby the Heart Stealer

The trial relates to crimes committed in 2010 when Berlusconi was prime minister and revolves around what prosecutors have described as erotic parties held at his luxury residence outside Milan.

Berlusconi was accused of paying for sex on several occasions with Moroccan-born El-Mahroug, a then 17-year-old exotic dancer and busty glamour girl who used the alias Ruby the Heart Stealer.

Berlusconi's legal woes


Former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi is involved in four legal procedures - three trials and a pre-trial investigation.
He was also accused of having called a police station to pressure for Ms El-Mahroug's release from custody when she was arrested for theft.

His defence claimed he believed Ms El-Mahroug was the niece of former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak and wanted to avoid a diplomatic incident, but prosecutors insisted it was a bid to conceal their affair.

While abuse of office was the more serious of the charges, it was the sex with the pole dancer after racy "bunga bunga" evenings in a basement room of his mansion that mesmerised the public.

Ms El-Mahroug described the "bunga bunga" sessions of erotic dancing to interrogators in 2010, saying Berlusconi had picked up the custom from the now-dead former Libyan dictator Moamar Gaddafi.

Both the flamboyant billionaire and Ms El-Mahroug denied having had sex.

Prosecutor Ilda Boccassini told the court in her summing up speech last month that Ms El-Mahroug was "part of a prostitution system set up for the personal sexual satisfaction of the defendant".

She said the dancer quickly became the premier's "favourite" and had not admitted the relationship with him only because she had received as much as $6.3 million from him.

Ms El-Mahroug proved an unreliable witness, admitting in May that she had lied to investigators. But she still admitted to receiving tens of thousands of euros for attending parties.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-06-25/berlusconi-sentenced-to-jail-for-paying-for-sex/4777416