A defiant Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi arrived in court today to face the latest in a series of trials over the coming weeks on charges ranging from tax fraud to paying for sex with a minor.
“I will not be convicted,” Berlusconi told reporters confidently as he entered the courthouse, with a crowd of supporters cheering him on.
He said magistrates, whom he has accused of being politically biased leftists, had hurled “an incredible amount of mud” at him “and the whole country”.
His appearance at the tax fraud trial contrasted with his decision to stay away from the opening of a more embarrassing case last week over his relations with an under-age prostitute, which his lawyers are trying to have quashed.
He called the prostitution charges against him “groundless.”
Today’s trial centres on charges that Berlusconi’s Mediaset broadcasting empire bought TV and film rights at inflated prices through offshore front companies, leaving the difference to be skimmed off to avoid tax and create secret slush funds.
Both Mediaset and Berlusconi deny the charges. Judges were expected to question some defence witnesses at today’s hearing.
The billionaire centre-right prime minister has dismissed opposition calls to resign and, after overcoming a damaging party split last year, appears to have the numbers in parliament to serve out his term until 2013.
The Mediaset trial is one of a series of three connected trials, all linked to the sale of television and film rights dating back to the 1990s.
It is not related to the more sensational “Rubygate” case in which the prime minister is accused of paying for sex with a teenage nightclub dancer when she was under the age of 18 and thus too young under Italian law to be paid as a prostitute.
As he entered the courthouse today, Berlusconi said he was only trying to help the girl, Karima El Mahroug, “because she told me a story that moved me” and he had wanted to help her find a job.
Berlusconi, who has faced at least a dozen trials over the years, denies all charges against him and says he has been victimised by leftist magistrates who are using the legal system to bring him down.
His government has been pushing through legislation to curb the powers of the magistrates, prompting critics to accuse him of trying to pass specially tailored laws that would allow him to escape trial altogether.
The trials were effectively suspended by a measure passed by his government which allowed him to claim that his official duties meant he did not have enough time to prepare his defence and could therefore claim immunity from trial while in office.
The constitutional court ruled against the measure in January, prompting magistrates to re-open the fraud trials and bring the prostitution case to court
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