Another Berlusconi trial on hold

ROME - JUDGES in Milan on Monday suspended a second trial against Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi pending a Constitutional Court decision on a new law that would protect him from prosecution.

Under the 'legitimate impediment' law, passed by parliament in March, the prime minister and the cabinet are automatically excused from trials for a maximum of 18 months.

Judges say the new legislation should be handled as a constitutional amendment instead of a regular law.

The trial suspended on Monday concerns allegations of tax fraud in the purchase of television rights by Berlusconi's Mediaset television company. On Friday judges cited the same reason for suspending a separate trial in which Berlusconi is accused of paying a bribe to his tax lawyer.

'Our goal was to have a trial and obtain an acquittal... (but) here in Milan they don't let us have trials,' Niccolo Ghedini, a lawyer for Berlusconi, told the ANSA news agency.

The billionaire prime minister has stood trial several times for corruption and fraud but has never been definitively convicted. Soon after returning to power in 2008, Berlusconi passed a law freezing trials for the holders of Italy's top four posts, but the Constitutional Court struck down the legislation a few months later. -- AFP

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