AC Milan owner, Silvio Berlusconi, has been sentenced to seven years
in prison and banned from public office for life after been found guilty
of having s*x with a minor.
 |
| Karima El Mahroug. |
The 76-year-old has been president of
AC Milan on three different spells since 1987. Milan finished third in
the Italian Serie A last season, 15 points behind champions Juventus.
The
former prime minister of Italy paid underage Moroccan teenager Karima
El Mahroug, nicknamed ‘Ruby the Heart Breaker’ for s*x and then tried to
cover it up with phone calls to police when she was arrested for
alleged theft. Berlusconi and the woman had denied having had s*x.
The
girl at the centre of the case was 17 at the time of the alleged
encounters but passed herself off as being 24, while the age of s*xual
consent in Italy is 14, it is illegal to pay anyone under the age of 18
for s*x.
Neither Berlusconi nor Karima have given evidence, she
was called by the defence but failed to show on a couple of occasions,
delaying the trial. Berlusconi’s team eventually dropped her from the
witness list.
She
appeared in a separate trial of three Berlusconi aides charged with
procuring prostitutes for the parties and told the court that
Berlusconi’s notorious ‘bunga bunga’ parties featured aspiring showgirls
dressed as sexy nuns and nurses performing striptease acts, and that
one woman even dressed up as president Obama.
Berlsuconi was not
in court throughout the period three female judges at a Milan court
deliberated his fate- or today when the final verdict was delivered.
The Ruling Was Conducted at a Milan Court Presided Over By Three Female Judges.
Prosecutors
wanted six-year jail term for underage s*x and abuse of power but the
three female judges handed him a longer sentence of seven years. He was
also banned from holding public office.
Meanwhile, the verdict can be appealed twice before the sentence becomes final, which could take months or even years.
Unless he loses his appeal, the former prime minister will not have to spend any time in jail.
Berlusconi’s lawyer, Niccolo Ghedini immediately announced an appeal and said the sentence was as expected as it was unjust.
Niccolo Ghedini, Berlusconi’s Lawyer Responds to
Questions Outside the Courthouse.
“This
is beyond reality,” Ghedini told reporters outside the courthouse. “I’m
calm because I’ve been saying for three years that this trial should
never have taken place here.”
Ghedini says the dinner parties were
elegant soirees; prosecutors say they were s*x-fuelled parties that
women were paid to attend.
Berlusconi has severally railed against
Milan prosecutors and judges, accusing them of mounting politically
motivated cases against him.
The verdict comes on the heels of
Berlusconi’s tax fraud conviction, which along with a four-year prison
sentence and five-year ban on public office have been upheld on a first
appeal.
The tax fraud case is heading to Italy’s highest court for
a final appeal after Berlusconi’s defence failed to overturn it last
week at the constitutional court.
He has been tried numerous times relating to his business dealings and has been convicted in other cases at the trial level.
Those
convictions were always either been suppressed on appeal or the statute
of limitations ran out before Italy’s high court could have its say.
The s*x-for-hire case is the first involving his personal conduct.
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