Post date: Feb 09, 2011 10:55:19 AM
Italian prosecutors are expected to request an immediate trial for Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi on charges of paying for sex with an underage girl and improperly pressuring police to release her from custody.
ROME, ITALY (FEBRUARY 9, 2011) REUTERS - Italian prosecutors believe they have enough evidence to request, on Wednesday (February 9), that Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi be put on trial without any delay and without a preliminary hearing.
The PM is accused of paying for sex with an underage girl and later abusing his power to get police to release her.The request will add to the pressure on the 74-year-old premier, whose centre-right government is hanging on to power by a thread.
Berlusconi already faces the resumption of three trials for corruption and tax fraud in the next month after Italy's top court struck down the automatic immunity from prosecution he enjoyed thanks to a law passed by his government.
Wednesday's newspapers all ran with headlines on the possible trial.
'Prosecutors ask for immediate trial. Berlusconi: they are breaking the law' ran one headline with newspapers making a lot of play with the Bunga, bunga expression that has come out of the sex scandal. Bunga refers to after dinner sex games Berlusconi is said to have hosted.
The latest opinion polls show the investigation has damaged Berlusconi but has not delivered a knock-out blow. Incredibly only the younger generation appear to be calling for the prime minister's resignation.
"He loves doing what he does, but he should do it a bit more cleverly as many others do," said businessman Gianfranco Zulli on his way to work.
"This is absolutely just," said teenager Francesca Landucci referring to the possibility of a trial for Berlusconi.
"I just think it is incredible that people still don't understand what kind of a person he is," she said.
In many polls that have been taken Italians appear to be shying away from a call to fresh elections but there is mounting pressure for a reform in the electoral law.
"The best thing would be for Berlusconi to resign and then a technical [transitional] government come in," said teenager Giorgio Pizzotti.
"I think if we had a technical [transitional] government they could work on the electoral law which up until now has been really harmful and after that we could go to elections but first we need to change the electoral law," he said.
Milan prosecutors say they have evidence Berlusconi paid for sex with a "significant number" of young women, including Moroccan nightclub dancer Karima El Mahroug when she was under 18, the legal age for prostitution in Italy.
They also say he later exerted improper pressure on police to have El Mahroug, known by her stage name "Ruby", released after she was detained on separate theft allegations.
Berlusconi has acknowledged making a call to police on El Mahroug's behalf, saying he had been told she was Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's niece.
His lawyers argue that he did nothing improper and was only trying to avoid a potentially embarrassing diplomatic crisis.
Once the prosecutors' request for an immediate trial is submitted, a judge will have five days to decide, although the deadline could be extended by a few days. If the judge agrees to the request, the trial could begin within a couple of months.
Berlusconi denies any wrongdoing and says he has never paid for sex. He says politically motivated leftist prosecutors are hounding him and trying to destroy his career.