Guilty

Silvio Berlusconi has been convicted of bribery:

Former Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi has been found guilty of bribing a senator in 2006 in an attempt to bring down the then centre-left government.

A Naples court sentenced Berlusconi to three years in jail and banned him from holding public office for five years.

[...]

The billionaire was accused of giving 3m euros (£2.5m; $4m) in 2006 to Sergio De Gregorio, then a senator from the anti-corruption Italy of Values party, to switch to Berlusconi's People of Freedom party and thus undermine the government of the time.

Unfortunately he won't actually be going to jail because Italy's crazy statute of limitations law will kick in before the appeal period expires, effectively halting the trial. So he'll be convicted, but not punished. And then Italy wonders why it has a corruption problem...

Stitching up Italy's democracy

Back in December, Italy's constitutional court ruled that the country's 2005 "porcellum" electoral law - a regionalised party-list system with complicated thresholds and a national "top-up" to provide the biggest party with an automatic absolute majority - was unconstitutional. The reason? The winner's bonus was unfair, while the party-lists gave power to parties rather than voters. Italy's government has promised to reform the law, and now the Democratic Party has got together with former Prime Minister and convicted tax fraudster Silvio Berlusconi for a joint proposal. The details? A winner's bonus, and party lists, of course. Oh, and a higher threshold to eliminate their competition from Parliament. "A total stitch-up" doesn't even come close...

The good news is that any proposal will have to pass through the Parliamentary process, and the small parties are threatening to roll the government if they are excluded. And of course there will likely be another court challenge if the undemocratic features of the porcellum law are simply replicated. Politics in Italy might be about to get very interesting again...

Good riddance

Silvio Berlusconi has been expelled from the Italian Senate:

The Italian Senate has voted to expel ex-Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi from parliament with immediate effect over his conviction for tax fraud.

Berlusconi, who has dominated politics for 20 years, could now face arrest over other criminal cases as he has lost his immunity from prosecution.

He told supporters in Rome it was a "day of mourning" for democracy.

Berlusconi has been a toxic influence on Italian politics, legislating repeatedly to protect himself and his cronies from prosecution for their crimes. Now, he's just a convicted tax fraudster, barred from office for six years. While he'll no doubt try to retain an influence through his Forza Italia party (named after a football chant - yes, Italian politics is that debased), inevitably his inability to lead a government will see that influence decline. And given his age, he's unlikely to have time to make a comeback.

So, Italian politics is finally free of Berlusconi. The question is whether they can do better, or whether its Berlusconis all the way down...

Guilty

Last year, an Italian court convicted former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi of tax evasion, sentencing him to four years' imprisonment (which was automatically cut to one year under an amnesty law Berlusconi passed in 2006). Today, that conviction was upheld by Italy's constitutional court. Berlusconi is now officially a convicted tax-fraudster, and he will be spending the next year under house arrest. But it wasn't all good news - they also ordered a review of the five year prohibition from holding public office handed down by the lower court, meaning that he will not be automatically evicted from the Senate and will still be able to run if elections are called soon or the ban is not uphold.

Still, its a good result, and justice is finally being served on one of the most corrupt western leaders in some time. And there's still plenty more of it to come...

Guilty

Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has been convicted of abuse of office and having sex with an underage prostitute. The sentence? Seven years imprisonment and a ban from public office. Sadly, I don't expect him to serve either. "Reforms" to Italy's justice system (made specifically to protect Berlusconi's friends) reduced the time-limit for cases, so all he has to do is drag it out through appeals, and the case will simply expire.

The question now is whether he will demand that Italy's coalition government pass new laws to protect him, and if so, whether they will agree. He can send the country back to the polls if he doesn't get his way, so he has a lot of leverage. But if that happens, then the credibility of Italy's democracy will take an even bigger dive.

Berlusconi in trouble again

Silvio Berlusconi is under investigation again - this time over allegations he bribed a senator to switch sides after the 2006 election:

The former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, who is challenging for a share of power after this week's election, has been placed under investigation on suspicion of bribing a senator to change sides in parliament in 2006, sources in the inquiry said on Thursday.

[...]

The prosecutors are investigating claims that a senator, Sergio De Gregorio, was paid €3m (£2.6m) to leave his party and join the PDL, the sources told Italian news agencies.

De Gregorio's move helped trigger the fall of the last centre-left government, headed by Romano Prodi.

The good news is that now he is no longer Prime Minister, this can be prosecuted effectively. Though even then the self-serving changes Berlusconi made to Italy's statute of limitations may mean he avoids punishment. Though I would hope that a finding that the case was proven but the statute had expired would be enough to make him political persona non-grata.

Italy's dictatorship falls

A year ago, in an act of cowardice, Italy's elected politicians abrogated their responsibilities and allowed the appointment of an unelected, "technocratic" (i.e. NeoLiberal) government to manage their country through its economic crisis. That government then proceeded to fuck over the Italian people, imposing NeoLiberal austerity for the benefit of the rich and bankers. The good news is that this dictatorship has finally come to an end, with Prime Minister Mario Monti announcing that he would resign after a major party withdrew its confidence. The bad news is that all of this is happening because Silvio Berlusconi wants a fourth term - and another few years of immunity from prosecution.

Still, Berlusconi is better than the alternative. If he wins, he will at least be elected and accountable to the people. Monti was neither - he was a dictator with no mandate and no legitimacy. If he wants to keep pushing his austerity, then he should stand for election and see how popular it is. Otherwise, Italy is well rid of him.

Good riddance

Silvio Berlusconi has announced he will not be running again for Prime Minister. Good riddance. Berlusconi has been a toxic influence on Italian politics, repeatedly undermining the rule of law to keep himself and his friends out of jail. The sooner he is off the political stage, the better.

Berlusconi falls

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi will resign after losing his majority in the lower house of the Italian Parliament. Good. Berlusconi has been a cancer in the Italian body politic, systematically undermining the judicial system in order to protect himself from corruption charges. In 2005 he reduced Italy's statute of limitations, allowing murderers, rapists, and other serious violent offenders escape justice in order to protect a crony about to be convicted of corruption. In 2008 he suspended all "non-priority" trials to prevent a case against him from reaching the courts. The man is a corrupt little thug. Italy will be well rid of him.

Another bloody nose for Berlusconi

Last month, Italian Prime Minister received a bloody nose from the Italian people, with the defeat of his candidate in regional elections in his home city of Milan. Today, he received another one, losing a series of abrogative referenda on his policies.

The media are focusing on the defeat of Berlusconi's plans to reintroduce nuclear power in Italy - but that wasn't the only question. He also lost on water privatisation, and (more significantly) on his attempts to pervert the legal system to insulate himself and his cronies from prosecution. The latter is extremely significant, and not just because it means Berlusconi and his Ministers will face trial on corruption charges. It also means that the Italian people have woken up, called bullshit and demanded higher standards from their government. Again, its a sign that Italy's democracy may not be as sick as it seems, and that there may be some hope after all.

A bloody nose for Berlusconi

Italy went to the polls in the second round of local elections today, and attention was focused on Milan. Faced with a strong challenge from the left on his home ground, Berlusconi's candidate sank into the gutter with an outright appeal to xenophobia and racism:

Wearing an elegant silk jacket, carrying a white Dolce & Gabbana handbag and sporting her customary silver eye shadow, the beleaguered mayor of Milan, Letizia Moratti, cut an incongruous figure as she scrunched across the gravel at an old Gypsy campsite in Milan last week.

The 1,500 Gypsies who once lived here have long gone, which is why Moratti had brought the TV crews with her. "When I first came here, I saw an undignified way of life. Now there are zero Gypsies," she said, before listing the other Gypsy settlements around Milan that she plans to shut down if re-elected this weekend.

[...]

"If Pisapia wins, Milan will became a Muslim town, a Gypsyville of Roma camps, a city besieged by foreigners," Berlusconi has warned in one of a series of increasingly irate video messages on his website. He told one TV interviewer that anyone voting for the centre-left had "left their brains at home". Meanwhile, young activists brought in from throughout Italy fanned out across Milan telling locals Pisapia would open "injection rooms" for drug addicts.

"If Pisapia wins, there will be a boom in rapes and prostitutes on the streets," said Massimo Corsaro, a Freedom People MP.

Its appalling stuff, and it makes our politicians look good by comparison. But the good news is that after all that, after deliberately inciting racial hatred, Berlusconi lost. Maybe there's some hope for Italy after all.

Saving Berlusconi's bacon

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi goes on trial today on charges of abuse of office and soliciting underage prostitution. Meanwhile, members of his party in the Chamber of Deputies are trying to interfere with the trial process:

The Chamber of Deputies, which is controlled by Berlusconi's conservative allies, ruled in February that the trial should have been diverted to a special court — one in which he would have been more likely to be acquitted. Lawyers will appeal on parliament's behalf to the constitutional court, which could rule that the case be scrapped.

These aren't the only charges Berlusconi is facing - he's also being tried in three other cases involving tax fraud and corruption. But his party has a solution for that too: shorten the statute of limitations for such crimes again. Thousands of trials will be aborted as a result, but Berlusconi will be able to walk free.

This is how things work in Italy now. Basic things we take for granted, such as the independence of the judiciary and the rule of law, are being undermined in an effort to protect a corrupt and criminal Prime Minister. But what's really appalling is that Italians put up with it. These are their rights under threat; its time they stood up to defend them.

The usual solution

Last week, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was formally indicted on charges of paying an underage prostitute and abuse of power. After a couple of days of embarrassed silence, he has responded with the usual solution: "reform" Italy's justice system. The proposed "reforms"? Impunity for all politicians and outlawing the use of wiretaps as evidence. These would allow corrupt politicians to go unpunished and rob police of a key weapon against organised crime. But they'd get Berlusconi off the hook, and that is all that matters to him.

The question now is whether he can muster a majority to push these self-serving changes through. His coalition has been slowly falling to pieces, and the latest charges have increased the pressure. Last month, he barely survive a confidence vote. Hopefully, this time he'll lose.

Maybe this time II

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has been formally indicted on charges of sex with an underage prostitute and abuse of power. He will go on trial in April, and faces 15 years imprisonment if convicted. While he'll no doubt try some of the same tricks - impunity laws, gutting the justice system - he has used to escape conviction in the past, he may not have the Parliamentary majority to force such changes through anymore. His coalition partners have grown tired of his dirt, and the prosecution will likely spark further defections as politicians and parties seek to distance themselves. Given the narrowness of his majority - Berlusconi's coalition has already been significantly eroded by his scandals - he may very well end up losing power. If so, it will be good riddance.

Maybe this time

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is to be prosecuted again - this time for statutory rape:

The Milan chief prosecutor said a request for a fast-track trial would be submitted to a court on Wednesday.

Mr Berlusconi is alleged to have paid for sex with a 17-year-old girl and then intervened to get her released from custody in a separate case.

The woman, known as Ruby, is now 18 and denies that they had sex.

Hopefully they'll finally get him this time. OTOH, if there's any real chance of that, he'll just pass a law granting himself impunity again; it doesn't matter that it will be overturned by the constitutional court, because it will help run out the clock on Italy's crazy statute of limitations (which is based on final conviction rather than charge - meaning every appeal helps run out the clock).

Freudian slip

Italin Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, on his legal troubles:

The problem, he explained, was that "In absolute terms, I am the most legally persecuted man of all times, in the whole history of mankind, worldwide, because I have been subjected to more than 2,500 court hearings and I have the good luck – having worked well in the past and having accumulated an important wealth – to have been able to spend more than €200m in consultants and judges ... I mean in consultants and lawyers."

(Emphasis added)

A Freudian slip, perhaps?

Equal under the law

In 2008, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi had a problem: a spotlight was being shone on his shady business dealings, and he was facing multiple charges of corruption and bribery. So in typical style, he first suspended all "non-priority" trials to prevent a case against him from reaching the courts, then passed a law granting himself immunity from prosecution. Now the constitutional court has overturned the latter, arguing that it violates the constitutional affirmation of equality under the law.

The ruling paves the way for the cases against Berlusconi to be re-opened, and for new charges to be brought over alleged mafia links and tax fraud. Last month, that threat was great enough for Berlusconi to threaten to resign if the court ruled against him; now he seems to have changed his mind. Instead, he is accusing the judiciary of political bias and threatening to interfere with its independence. Meanwhile Berlusconi's consiglieri, Umberto Bossi of the neo-fascist Lega Nord, is threatening to "enter into action, bringing out the people". That's not good news for Italy's democracy. But then neither is Berlusconi.

Here's hoping

The Times reports that Italy's Silvio Berlusconi has threatened to resign if the constitutional court overturns the law he passed last year to shield himself from corruption charges.

Here's hoping. The law in question is just the latest in a long line of self-serving law changes aimed at assuming impunity for Berlusconi. In 2005, just before he lost office for the second time, he reduced Italy's statute of limitations, allowing murderers, rapists, and other serious violent offenders escape justice in order to protect a crony about to be convicted of corruption. In 2008, facing charges himself, he simply suspended all "non-priority" trials to prevent a case against him from reaching the courts. The man is a corrupt little thug. And the sooner he is evicted from office and prosecuted, the better.

How it works in Italy

You're a businessman seeking government contracts. Competing on the open market is too much of a hassle, and you want some way of getting the "inside track" so your bids will be looked at first.

No problem. Just supply the Prime Minister with a few girls, and he'll make the necessary introductions:

The businessman, Gianpaolo Tarantini, said his aim was to win favours from those in power. "I wanted to get to know prime minister Berlusconi and to that end I incurred significant expense to enter into his confidence," he was quoted as saying. "Knowing of his interest in the female sex, what I did was to take girls to see him, introducing them as friends of mine and concealing from him that sometimes I paid them."

The standard rate for staying on at Palazzo Grazioli, Berlusconi's residence in the centre of Rome, was €1,000. Otherwise, the women were merely paid expenses.

Tarantini claims to have provided 30 "companions" to Berlusconi over a five month period. In exchange, he got the introduction he wanted - but nothing came of it. I guess that's why he has come forward: he didn't get what "he" paid for.

This is how politics and business works in Italy. Time for a serious cleanup.

Berlusconi strikes again

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has a problem: he's currently on trial for corruption in Milan for allegedly bribing a witness in a previous corruption case. Fortunately, he has a solution: suspend all "non-priority" criminal trials:

There was uproar in the Italian Parliament today as Silvio Berlusconi, the centre-right Prime Minister, sought to push through a decree which the left-wing opposition said would save him from a possible prison sentence by suspending "non priority" trials for a year.

[...]

If passed the decree, part of a wider "security package" on law and order, would suspend all trials for offences committed before 2002 except in the case of crimes punishable by a prison sentence of 10 years or more and those which involve violence, the Mafia or workplace accidents. Mr Berlusconi said this was intended to speed up Italy's notoriously slow and inefficient judicial process.

However Lanfranco Tenaglia, the Shadow Justice Minister, said it was really to do with "the Prime Minister's perennial conflict of legal interests". In a letter to Renato Schifani, the Senate President and a political ally, Mr Berlusconi admitted that "my lawyers have informed me that this measure would be applicable to one of a number of fanciful trials that far-left magistrates have brought against me for political reasons".

So, change the law to let yourself off from a serious criminal offence. It's the sort of behaviour I'd expect from someone like Mugabe, not the elected leader of a supposedly western democracy. OTOH, it's not the first time Berlusconi has pulled such a stunt - in 2005, shortly before he was de-elected, he reduced Italy's statute of limitations (in the process letting murderers, rapists, and other serious violent offenders escape justice) in order to protect a crony about to be convicted of corruption. And yet, for some reason, Italians keep electing him. Do they like being ruled and represented by a corrupt little thug? Or is he really the least worst politician they can find?