Milan court rejects suspension plea

A court in Milan has dealt a blow to Silvio Berlusconi's hopes of entering Italy's elections with his "bunga bunga" past safely put to one side when it rejected his request to delay a long-running trial in which he is accused of paying for sex with an underage prostitute.

Arguing that the former prime minister would be too involved with the forthcoming election campaign to give the case his proper attention, Berlusconi's lawyer had asked the court to postpone the proceedings on the basis of "legitimate impediment" until after the vote on 24 and 25 February.

After paparazzi gathered outside the court to catch a glimpse of Karima el-Mahroug, the former nightclub dancer with whom Berlusconi is alleged to have sex when she was 17, Niccolo Ghedini also said he wanted to prevent the trial from being "exploited" by his client's political opponents.

But after deliberating for four hours, the judges rejected the request and ordered the proceedings to continue – a decision that could see the 76-year-old billionaire face a verdict early next month. Ghedini told the court: "The court has, with this decision, intervened strongly in the electoral campaign."

The trial has been dubbed Rubygate by the media after Mahroug's stage name was revealed as Ruby Rubacuori (Ruby the Heart Stealer). Berlusconi is accused of paying for sex with the Moroccan when she was not yet 18, the age at which prostitutes can work legally in Italy.

He is also accused of abusing his office by allegedly telling the police she was a relative of the now-deposed Egyptian president, Hosni Mubarak, in an attempt to have her released from custody. He denies all charges, and his claims have been supported by Mahroug, who has maintained that although she was invited to the then prime minister's so-called bunga bunga parties – at a time when Berlusconi says he thought she was older than she was – she never had sex with him.

Dressed in a black coat and carrying a designer handbag, she arrived at the Milan court amid a flurry of flashbulbs to give evidence for the defence, only to be told by the judges that her testimony was no longer required.

She had previously failed to show up in court to testify because, according to her lawyer, she was on holiday in Mexico. The prosecution claimed her failure to attend was a sign of Berlusconi's desire to delay the verdict. Mahroug would have been the final witness in the trial's lengthy and colourful roll-call.

If Berlusconi is found guilty, he could be sentenced to up to 15 years in prison but would be able to appeal twice against the ruling before it became definitive, a process that would probably take years.

In the elections, he is running as the head of a rightwing coalition made up chiefly of his People of Freedom party and former government partner the Northern League. He has repeatedly said he would prefer to be finance minister rather than prime minister, but observers of the three-time premier advise against taking that to heart.

The bloc is trailing in the polls behind the centre-left, but outperforming technocrat leader Mario Monti's centrist grouping, and Berlusconi could win enough seats in the senate to retain a powerful say in the running of the country.

Late last year he announced he had a new girlfriend, a former television showgirl, Francesca Pascale.

(Published by The Guardian - January 14, 2013)