Berlusconi vows to stay on after court ruling

ROME — Premier Silvio Berlusconi faces judicial and political battles after a top Italian court overturned a law granting him immunity from prosecution and cleared the way for his corruption and tax fraud trials to resume in Milan.

The ever-combative Berlusconi vowed to stay on after the Constitutional Court on Wednesday dealt him one of the most serious blows in his 15-year-long battle with the Italian judiciary.

The ruling added to a list of problems for Berlusconi that already includes a headline-grabbing sex scandal. It also handed prosecutors another chance to ask for the premier’s conviction.

Any guilty verdict would be a further embarrassment, but Berlusconi would not be forced to resign as long as he can keep together his conservative coalition, which dominates parliament.

After the Constitutional Court’s ruling, Berlusconi’s allies quickly rallied to his support and the billionaire businessman-turned-politician dismissed calls for his resignation.

“Nothing will happen, we will go forward,” the premier told reporters in front of his residence in Rome. “The trials they will hurl at me in Milan are real farces.”

Looking strained but determined, Berlusconi said he felt “invigorated” by the challenge and ended his brief statement by shouting “Long live Italy! Long live Berlusconi!”

Despite the optimism, Berlusconi now faces difficult times, with judicial proceedings that could further tarnish his image in Italy and abroad, Stefano Folli, a columnist with business daily Il Sole 24 Ore, told Sky TV.

“This has been one of the most difficult and crucial days in Berlusconi’s political career,” Folli said. “He certainly comes out of it damaged and weakened.”

Berlusconi, 73, continues to be widely popular in Italy, despite accusations from his wife that he has had inappropriate relationships with far younger women and allegations from a self-described call girl that he spent a night with her. The scandal erupted in the spring after his wife announced she was divorcing him.

Berlusconi says he is “no saint” but has denied ever paying anyone for sex or having any improper relationships.

The law overturned Wednesday was pushed through by Berlusconi’s conservative coalition in 2008 when he faced separate trials in Milan for corruption and tax fraud tied to his Mediaset broadcasting empire. It granted immunity from prosecution while in office to the country’s four top office holders — the premier, president of the republic and the two parliament speakers.

The proceedings against Berlusconi, who denies all charges, were suspended as a result of the law, drawing accusations that it was tailor-made for the premier.

But the 15-judge Constitutional Court, which deals with all matters regarding the constitutionality of Italian law, said the immunity legislation violated the principle that all are equal before the law.

The breakdown of the vote is not made public in Italy but Italian media reported that the judges split nine to six.

“I hope that today, in light of the court’s decision, the premier will stop making laws for his own use, resign from his job and be what he has resisted being for the past 15 years: a defendant,” said Antonio Di Pietro, a member of the opposition and a former prosecutor.

The corruption trial is particularly threatening, because in the meantime the premier’s co-defendant has been convicted of accepting a bribe to lie in court to protect Berlusconi.

Still, even if convicted, Berlusconi could still stay in power, as sentences in Italy are usually not served until all avenues of appeal are exhausted.

Berlusconi has a history of legal troubles stemming from his private interests but he has been either acquitted or cleared because the statute of limitations had expired.

“If the law must be equal for all, then it should be equal also for those who represent us,” said Claudio Paolini, a 34-year-old letter carrier in Rome. “The ruling followed Italy’s principles of democracy.”

Others sided with the premier, saying the decision was politically motivated and that leaders should have immunity while they are in office.

“The people elected Berlusconi and he should be left to govern in peace,” said Brigitte Ipoletto, a 72-year-old retired woman.

In the Milan corruption trial, Berlusconi was accused of ordering the 1997 payment of at least $600,000 to British lawyer David Mills in exchange for the lawyer’s false testimony at two hearings in other corruption cases in the 1990s.

Berlusconi’s portion of the trial was frozen when the immunity bill was passed but the proceedings continued for Mills. In February, he was convicted of corruption and sentenced to 4½ years in prison. Mills, the estranged husband of Britain’s Olympics Minister Tessa Jowell, has maintained his innocence and said he would appeal.

Berlusconi faces the tax fraud charge in a trial over Mediaset’s purchase of TV rights.

Wednesday’s decision caps a tough period for the premier, coming just a few days after a separate, devastating court ruling against Berlusconi’s holding company Fininvest.

Fininvest was ordered to pay €750 million ($1 billion) to a rival for its 1990s takeover of the Mondadori publishing house. Fininvest said the ruling is unjust and it will seek to suspend the judgment pending an appeal.

The civil damage award stems from a case in which three Berlusconi associates were convicted of corrupting a judge so he would overturn a ruling that had gone in favor of industrialist Carlo De Benedetti and against Berlusconi for control of Mondadori.

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Associated Press writer Allegra Richards contributed to this report in Rome.