A Milan court sentenced Italian former
prime minister Silvio Berlusconi on Monday to seven years in prison
after convicting him of paying for sex with a minor but he will not have
to serve any jail time before he has exhausted appeals.
Reuters reports that with two
appeals possible, it could be years before a verdict is final and
Berlusconi lawyers announced they would file an appeal against what his
counsel NiccoloGhedini called a “completely illogical” verdict.
The verdict against the flamboyant
76-year-old media tycoon added to the complications facing Prime
Minister Enrico Letta, whose fragile left-right coalition is supported
by Berlusconi’s centre-right People of Freedom party.
Berlusconi was found guilty of paying
for sex with former teenage nightclub dancer Karima El Mahroug, better
known under her stage name “Ruby the Heartstealer”, during alleged
“bungabunga” sex parties at his palatial home near Milan.
The panel of three judges, all women,
also convicted him of abuse of office by arranging to have El Mahroug
released from police custody when she was detained in a separate theft
case. As a result, the judges banned Berlusconi from public office.
The verdict closes a two-year trial that
has mesmerized Italy with its accounts of “bungabunga” parties at the
billionaire’s private villa outside Milan while he was premier in 2010.
Several PDL members have urged
Berlusconi to withdraw his backing for the government, and he may be
more tempted to do so if he decides it is giving him no legal
protection.
“It’s disgusting, a disgrace,” one of
his most faithful lieutenants, senior party official Daniela Santanche,
told reporters in front of the Milan court. But she said it would not
impact the functioning of the government.
“We want this government to act to do the things Italians need, so this ruling has nothing to do with the ruling.”
Berlusconi always denied wrongdoing and
says he is being persecuted by left-wing prosecutors. He says the
purported sex parties were elegant dinners where the female guests
performed “burlesque” shows. El Mahroug denies having sex with
Berlusconi.
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