An Italian prosecutor today asked an appeals court to impose a 24-year prison sentence on former prime minister Mr Giulio Andreotti for complicity in the 1979 murder of a journalist.
Mr Andreotti (82), dubbed "Mr Italy" for his dominance of Italy's post-war politics, first became prime minister in 1972 and has been a minister 21 times. He now is a lifetime senator.
The journalist, Mr Mino Pecorelli, who was about to publish a book criticising him, was killed in 1979.
Mr Andreotti had been acquitted of the charges three years ago but the public prosecutor's office in the central town of Perugia appealed the verdict.
He branded the ongoing prosecution as "diabolical", his defence counsels, Mr Giulia Bongiorno and Mr Franco Coppi, said. "The charges are absolutely inconsistent," said Mr Coppi. "Arguments of the first trial were picked up again; there is nothing new".
In a separate appeal trial in Palermo, Sicily state prosecutors in March demanded a 10-year jail sentence for the seven-time prime minister for colluding with the Mafia.
He had also been acquitted in that trial, which began in 1995, but the state appealed. A verdict in the Palermo trial is not expected before the end of the year.
AFP