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Editor's update: By three votes, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi survived a confidence vote. Rome police fended off rioters outside the Senate, and opposing deputies even scuffled inside parliament.
ROME, Italy Italian newspapers have dubbed it Silvio Berlusconi's Judgement Day.
On Tuesday Italy's scandal-ridden prime minister faces a crucial confidence vote in parliament that could mark the end of his 16-year political career.
This comes as a slow-motion crisis in his government nears its end. So far, Berlusconi has been able to survive, despite a devastating financial crisis that has stalled his country's government and threatens to tear apart the eurozone. But it would be rash to bet even this time that the media-mogul-turned-politician is done for.
In Italy, defendants are legally considered innocent until all appeals are exhausted, and Berlusconi's lawyers are expected to appeal the case to the nation's highest Court of Cassation once the reasoning for the decision is published. Still, the ruling, which comes just days before prosecutors wrap up closing arguments in his sensational sex-for-hire trial, raises the question of whether Berlusconi's days as a political force are numbered.
His center-right forces are allied with the Democratic Party in a grand coalition, and although Berlusconi holds no governmental posts he remains influential. It was his decision to head the center-right coalition, after initially saying he would move aside for younger leaders, that gave a boost to his forces in February's election campaign, finishing a close second to the center-left. "My opinion is that a personality who had such a relevant role in Italy for 20 years - absolutely controversial, evidently, but relevant - cannot be eliminated by judicial means, but by political means," Stefano Folli, a political commentator for il Sole 24 Ore newspaper said on La7 private TV. If the high court upholds the guilty verdict and ban, `'it's clear he would exit from the scene" and lose his seat in Parliament.
The 5 Star Movement party founded by comic-turned-political leader Beppe Grillo already is pressing to apply the judicial ban on public office immediately. Italian media reported that cheers went up in a party meeting when the verdict was announced. Indeed, the case already is tightly tied to Berlusconi's political fortunes. He announced he was stepping aside just two days before the October lower court verdict convicting him in a scheme that involved inflating the price his Mediaset media empire paid for TV rights to U.S. movies and pocketing the difference. Shortly after the guilty verdict, he renewed his political campaign, and his lawyers began seeking a series of trial delays for his electoral commitments.
Berlusconi has long denied the tax fraud charges - as well as wrongdoing in any of the dozens of cases that he has faced over the last two decades, mostly for his business dealings - and said he's a victim of politically motivated prosecutors. His lawyers had argued to move the Mediaset appeal and the sex-for-hire case to the nearby city of Brescia, arguing that Milan courts are partial. The high court denied the motion earlier this week. Defense lawyer Nicolo Ghedini said the attorneys expected the appeals court would uphold the convictions based on the court's push to keep the trial on a tight schedule and moves against additional witnesses.
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The request came days after an appeals court upheld a four-year sentence and five-year ban on public office in a tax fraud case against Berlusconi, raising questions about his political future at a delicate moment for Italy. Berlusconi, who has dominated the nation's political scene for two decades, headed the center-right coalition that finished second in February elections and which is in an uneasy coalition with the center-left. He has no Cabinet post, but he serves in Parliament. In the prostitution case, Berlusconi is accused of paying for sex with an underage Moroccan teen at lavish parties he hosted as premier, then trying to cover it up.
Prosecutor Ilda Boccassini told the court during closing arguments Monday that the young woman, Karima el-Mahroug, known by the nickname `'Ruby the Heart Stealer," lied when she denied having had sex with Berlusconi. Boccassini said `'there is no doubt that Ruby had sex with the defendant and that she received benefits in exchange." She put the monetary sum at 4.5 million euros ($5.8 million) between October and December 2010 from the then-premier, citing a written note and some phone calls where money exchanges were discussed.
Boccassini told the court the young women invited to the politician's parties `'were part of a system of prostitution organized for the pleasure of Silvio Berlusconi." She said there was `'no doubt" that it was known to the organizers of the parties that el-Mahroug was under age when they included her on the guest list. Under Italian law, it is illegal to pay for sex with a minor under 18 years of age. Boccassini pointed out that it was Berlusconi's own government that had raised the age from 17 - el-Mahroug's age at the time of their alleged encounters. Both Berusconi and el-Mahroug have denied any sexual contact.
Boccassini described el-Mahroug as a troubled adolescent who had run away from her parents and foster homes, and had been formally accused of petty theft of wallets and expensive jewelry on several occasions. Despite being unemployed, el-Mahroug wore designer clothes and at times carried as much as 1,000 euros ($1,300) in cash, the prosecutor said. "We have no doubt that Ruby prostituted herself" before coming in contact with anyone in Berlusconi's circle in February 2010, Boccassini said.
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The doctor, Alberto Zangrillo, said the 79-year-old billionaire businessman "risked dying," indicating a condition more severe than had been revealed by friends and family who have been visiting the former premier at Milan's San Raffaele clinic since he was admitted Sunday. Berlusconi, who has had a pacemaker for years, called Zangrillo Sunday morning from Rome to report the ailment, and Zangrillo said he advised him to return to Milan and go directly to the hospital from the airport. "He obeyed me in part. He wanted to exercise his right to vote and he only came to us in the afternoon," the doctor said.
Silvio Berlusconi talks during the recording of a TV show in Rome. Doctors say former Premier Berlusconi is suffering a serious case aortic insufficiency and will undergo surgery to replace the valve. Berlusconi’s personal doctor, Alberto Zangrillo, told reporters on Thursday, June 9, 2016, that the 79-year-old billionaire businessman will be ‘’better than before’’ after the four-hour surgery, which will take place before the middle of next week.
Zangrillo said a team of doctors at the multi-disciplinary San Raffaele clinic ran a battery of tests and diagnosed a severe case of aortic insufficiency, which involves a leaking of the aortic valve of the heart, causing blood to flow in the reverse direction. He will undergo the four-hour surgery by the middle of next week to substitute the valve, after which he will be in intensive care for one or two days before a period of rehabilitation that will last about a month.
Zangrillo said that after the rehabilitation, Berlusconi would be "better than before," from the point of view of vitality. He said Berlusconi was being treated "like all other patients." Berlusconi no longer holds public office due to a 2013 tax fraud conviction but remains the head of his Forza Italia party and has been active in mayoral campaigns under way.
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The center-right politician and media mogul had an aortic valve replaced on Tuesday after suffering what his doctors said was a life-threatening cardiac disorder last week. Berlusconi, who has been forced by legal problems to take a back seat in politics but who remains an important figure on the center-right, has worn a pacemaker for the past decade. Alberto Zangrillo, Berlusconi's personal doctor, told reporters that the four-times prime minister was making jokes shortly after waking up from sedation on Wednesday morning. "He was immediately back to his good old self. After not even 30 seconds he was already cracking jokes, in this case he was full of praise for the assistance received overnight by one of the nurses in the intensive care unit," he said.
Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi leaves the stage flanked by his girlfriend Francesca Pascale at the end of a rally to protest his tax fraud conviction, outside his palace in central Rome, Italy
He said that Berlusconi, who has survived numerous diplomatic gaffes, court cases and controversy - including allegations he had sex with an underage girl and hosted orgies - had told the nurse she could work for one of his TV channels. Ottavio Alfieri, the surgeon who operated on Berlusconi, said the post-operative acute phase was going well. "I have just seen him, he is lucid, he is in perfect condition," he said. Berlusconi's younger brother Paolo told the TV channel of soccer club AC Milan, owned by family holding Fininvest, that he had a "difficult moment" overnight but then woke up "in the best possible post-operative condition" on Wednesday.
Zangrillo denied that there had been any problem during the night and said that Berlusconi would leave intensive care on Thursday as planned. He had said last week that Berlusconi was in a very serious condition when he was taken to the hospital but was expected to recover fully from the surgery within a month. Berlusconi's once-powerful group of parties has become increasingly fragmented in recent years, mostly since he lost his grip on power in 2011. His Forza Italia (Go Italy!) party suffered mixed fortunes in local elections this month, with his candidate for Rome mayor finishing fourth.
Italy's Berlusconi alert and cracking jokes after heart surgery: doctor
