Italian court acquits Berlusconi in sex case
MILAN: An Italian appeals court on Friday acquitted former Premier Silvio Berlusconi in a sex-for-hire case, reversing a lower court conviction that had carried a seven-year prison sentence and a lifetime ban on holding political office.
The case revealed details of raunchy, sex-fueled bunga-bunga parties at his private villa attended by a bevy of aspiring showgirls.
He was accused of paying for sex with former nightclub dancer Kharima El Mahroug, better known under her stage name “Ruby the Heartstealer”, when she was under 18, and of abusing his authority to get her released from police custody over unrelated theft accusations. He denied the charges.
Acquittal came just as Berlusconi was leaving a facility for Alzheimer’s patients where he is performing a sentence of community service in a separate tax fraud conviction. That is the only case finalized against Berlusconi, who faces dozens of trials, mostly for his business dealings.
Prosecutors can challenge Friday’s acquittal in Italy’s highest criminal court, the Court of Cassation.
The 77-year-old three-time former premier remains influential on the Italian political scene as head of his Forza Italia party, despite the tax fraud conviction’s ban on holding political office for two years that led the Senate to yank his seat.
If the court had confirmed the sentence, Berlusconi would have had one more recourse, failing which he would have had to serve the seven years plus three years from the Mediaset case that had been written off as a first-time offender amnesty.