After a six-year legal process, the 86-year-old scandal-ridden politician and media mogul Berlusconi was acquitted on Wednesday by a court in Milan due to a lack of evidence, writes the Italian news agency Tend.
Berlusconi, who is the leader of the right-wing Forza Italia party, was accused of having bribed witnesses in a previous trial to lie about what went on during the so-called “bunga-bunga” parties that were organized for many years at the media magnate’s lavish villa in Arcore outside Milan.
Accused of bribery
Another 28 people, including guests from the parties, who were accused of receiving money and gifts, were acquitted by the court for lack of evidence.
The most famous of these is the former nightclub dancer Karima el-Mahroug, who in the Italian media is called “Ruby rubacuori” (Ruby – the heartthrob). El-Mahroug was accused in a previous trial of accepting money from Berlusconi in exchange for sexual favors as a 17-year-old – a trial that ended with the media mogul being sentenced to seven years in prison. However, the sentence was appealed, after which he was acquitted in Italy’s Supreme Court.
If Silvio Berlusconi had been found guilty in today’s trial, he would have been sentenced to six years in prison and forced to pay a 10 million euro fine.
Salvini: “Happy about the acquittal”
Berlusconi’s party Forza Italia is included together with the Brothers of Italy and the Lega in the right-wing coalition that, with Giorgia Meloni at the head, governs Italy since September 2022. When today’s verdict, which was broadcast live on Italian television, was announced, the members of the Brothers of Italy who were present in the parliament also stood up and applauded.
The message is also praised by the country’s foreign minister, Antonio Tajani, who in a tweet calling it “fantastic news”. Even the Italian deputy prime minister, also the leader of Lega, Matteo Salvini welcomes the announcement.
“I am happy that after years of suffering, insults and pointless disputes, Silvio has been acquitted,” Salvini writes on Twitter.