Berlusconi: Gaol Sentence in Ruby Case …
- June 25th, 2013
- Posted by EU Australia
The former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, (picture) 76, sentenced to seven years gaol on sex charges, 24.6.13, is digging in for a long appeals process.
It was all “to try to eliminate me from the political life”, he said, continuing to deny he had sex with a young prostitute, “Ruby the Heart Stealer” (picture); in a scandal dating back to 2010, when the girl was 17.
The episode may have important political impacts.
Mr Berlusconi’s right of centre political party, PDL, is in a national coalition with the centre-left, and he is being urged by several supporters to now pull out of the government. See EUAustralia Online, Italy’s election deadlock, 26.2.13.
In 2010 the then Prime Minister was prosecuted for indulging in sex with a partner under the legal age for prostitution, at so-called bunga-bunga parties at his home near Milan.
He was also charged with playing Dad to Karima El Mahroug, aka Ruby, intervening to get her out of a police station after an alleged misdemeanour, in a misuse of his official position.
The sentence announced now by the chief judge in the case, Giulia Turri, in Milan, covers the two offences.
Silvio Berlusconi was convicted of tax fraud and given a four year sentence past year, currently under appeal.
See also, EUAustralia Online:Berlusconi facing gaol, wants a fight, 29.10.12; Bunga Bunga man goes bung, 14.11.11; Bunga Bunga! Berlusconi set for April trial, 16.2.11.
Reference
BBC, London, Italian court convicts Berlusconi on sex charges, 24.6.13. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-23034167, (25.6.13).
Manuela D’Alessandro, Gavin Jones, James Mackenzie, Robin Pomeroy; Italy ex-PM Berlusconi sentenced in Ruby sex case, Reuters, London, 24.6.13. http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/06/24/us-italy-berlusconi-verdict-idUSBRE95N0VK20130624, (25.6.13).