IN WHAT looks like a significant change of tactic, a defence lawyer for Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi at the weekend said that his client would defend himself in court in Milan in his four upcoming trials.
Lawyer Niccolò Ghedini, who is also a deputy in Mr Berlusconi’s PDL party, told reporters that Mr Berlusconi felt that “it was opportune that he himself took to the field” in the forthcoming trials.
There remains, however, the obvious logistical difficulty of creating space in the prime minister’s work calendar. Last Friday, Mr Ghedini had a meeting with Milan courthouse president Livia Pomodoro, during which he suggested that Mr Berlusconi could make himself available only on Mondays.
Mr Ghedini, speaking to reporters in Milan on Saturday, where he was defending Mr Berlusconi in a hearing of the (immediately adjourned) Mediatrade TV rights trial, said: “We have tried our best to promote a genuine institutional collaboration . . . To leave Mr Berlusconi’s schedule clear of commitments on a Monday is the most you could ask of a prime minister”. Mr Berlusconi is due to appear in four different trials in the next month.
Three trials involving the prime minister’s business empire – the so-called Mediatrade, Mediaset and Mills trials – have resumed, having been suspended last year because of the “Legitimate Impediment” law, a de facto immunity measure for Mr Berlusconi introduced by his government last year. In January, however, the constitutional court partially rejected this legislation, opening the way for the resumption of these three trials in which the prime minister is accused of fraud and corruption.
The fourth is the Rubygate trial in which he is accused of “exploitation of underage prostitution” and “abuse of office” in relation to “sexy” parties held in his private residence in Arcore, near Milan. That trial is due to begin on April 6th, which is a Wednesday.
For the time being, it is not clear if the Milan magistrates will agree to reschedule Mr Berlusconi’s cases for Monday hearings. If he does present himself in court this would represent a radical change of tactic.
For much of the last 17 years of legal battles, he has attempted to block proceedings against his person, primarily by a series of immunity laws – namely the Lodo Schifani, the Lodo Alfano and the Legitimate Impediment law, all passed by his governments and all subsequently rejected by the constitutional court.
Only once, in June 2003 in the SME food products trial, has Mr Berlusconi presented himself in court. On that occasion, he made an extended and forceful “spontaneous declaration” but did not submit himself to questioning. Media speculation suggests that the prime minister may now have become convinced that the best way of halting his reportedly declining popularity ratings would be to defend himself in court.
In the meantime, Mr Berlusconi appeared to continue his offensive against the judiciary by saying that Thursday’s cabinet meeting will consider a packet of “epochal” reforms of the justice system including the controversial “gag law”, intended to limit the use of phone taps in judicial investigations.