Berlusconi will be judged by three women in underage prostitution trial

When Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi stands trial on charges he paid an underage girl for sex, he'll be judged by a female panel.

Giulia Turri, Orsola De Cristoforo and Carmen D'Elia were named today as the judges who will preside over the April 6 trial in Milan. Turri, for one, is no stranger to tough cases. In 2009, she granted a dismissal of a tax-evasion probe involving Google Inc. managers. Last July, she ordered house arrests as part of a high-profile investigation into cocaine use and trafficking at Milan night clubs.

"In my career as a lawyer I've met all three, and they made a great impression," said criminal lawyer Fabio Belloni, who represented Parmalat SpA founder Calisto Tanzi in a fraud case. "They were always very scrupulous and have performed their duties rigorously."

The trial will probe Berlusconi's relationship with Karima El Mahroug, a Moroccan nightclub performer nicknamed Ruby Heart Stealer who attended a party at his Milan mansion last February when she was 17. The abuse-of-power charge stems from his role in helping secure El Mahroug's release from police custody in Milan after her detention in May on unrelated theft charges.

Two days ago, hundreds of thousands of women took to the streets across Italy to protest Berlusconi's behavior and demand better treatment for women. The female-led protest was sparked by the investigation into whether Berlusconi paid El Mahroug for sex and abused his power in trying to cover it up.

"In the court we have wonderful judges and most of them are women," Giuseppe Vaciago, a criminal lawyer in Milan, said in a telephone interview. "So this is not so strange, but it is a bit ironic."

'Disgusting, groundless'

The premier, who has denied any wrongdoing, has called the charges "disgusting" and "groundless." He isn't obliged to attend the trial or testify, said his lawyer, Niccolo Ghedini.

Berlusconi, Italy's third-richest man, has been rebuked for his remarks on women throughout his political career spanning almost two decades. He advised a college graduate looking for work in 2008 to "perhaps try and marry a millionaire." In 2003, he told prospective investors at the New York Stock Exchange that Italian "secretaries are beautiful."

His ex-wife, Veronica Lario, said he has a "sickness" for "hanging out with underage girls," following 2009 media reports about his friendship with aspiring model Noemi Letizia.

Italy, dubbed by British writer Tobias Jones as "the land that feminism forgot," ranked 74th out of 134 countries in a World Economic Forum Gender Gap Index, behind Malawi and Kazakhstan. With the exception of Malta, Italy has the lowest ratio of working women in the European Union, 46 percent.

(Published by Bloomberg - February 15, 2011)