Italian court upholds Berlusconi fraud conviction
A Milan appeals court upheld former prime minister and centre-right leader Silvio Berlusconi’s four-year sentence for tax fraud on Wednesday, adding to the complications facing Italy’s fragile coalition government.
In addition to the prison sentence for tax fraud in connection with the purchase of broadcasting rights by his television network Mediaset, the court’s ruling would also bar Berlusconi from holding public office for five years.
However, neither sentence will take effect unless confirmed in a final appeal before the court of cassation, making it unlikely that “Il Cavaliere,” as he is known in Italy, will find himself behind bars anytime soon.
“Berlusconi will not go to prison for at least two reasons,” Giuseppe Guastella, a journalist for Italian daily Corriere della Sera, told FRANCE 24. “Firstly, the court of cassation still needs to rule on his case, which will most likely be in the fall of 2013. Secondly, because of an amnesty law passed in 2006, three out of the four years in his sentence will be automatically annulled, and the fourth year will be dedicated to community service, given Berlusconi’s advanced age.”
The 76-year-old media magnate was accused of inflating the price paid for television rights using offshore companies under his control, and skimming off part of that money to create illegal slush funds.
Berlusconi, who is also facing a separate trial on charges of paying for sex with a minor in notorious “bunga bunga” parties, had appealed to reverse the four year sentence handed down in October.
However, his lawyer Niccolo Ghedini said he had little confidence that the Milan court would listen to his arguments and repeated that judges were biased against Berluscno for political reasons.
“We realised it was totally useless to give our arguments to a court of appeals that in our opinion had decided from the first day what its judgment would be,” Ghedini told reporters.
Italy’s top appeals court this week rejected a request by Berlusconi to move his trials out of Milan, where he argued he could not get a fair trial as judges were biased against him.
Berlusconi, head of the centre-right People of Freedom party (PDL), is not a member of the coalition administration headed by Prime Minister Enrico Letta but he has the power to bring the government down in parliament.
The next hearing of his trial for paying for sex with a minor is scheduled for May 13.
In addition to the prison sentence for tax fraud in connection with the purchase of broadcasting rights by his television network Mediaset, the court’s ruling would also bar Berlusconi from holding public office for five years.
However, neither sentence will take effect unless confirmed in a final appeal before the court of cassation, making it unlikely that “Il Cavaliere,” as he is known in Italy, will find himself behind bars anytime soon.
“Berlusconi will not go to prison for at least two reasons,” Giuseppe Guastella, a journalist for Italian daily Corriere della Sera, told FRANCE 24. “Firstly, the court of cassation still needs to rule on his case, which will most likely be in the fall of 2013. Secondly, because of an amnesty law passed in 2006, three out of the four years in his sentence will be automatically annulled, and the fourth year will be dedicated to community service, given Berlusconi’s advanced age.”
The 76-year-old media magnate was accused of inflating the price paid for television rights using offshore companies under his control, and skimming off part of that money to create illegal slush funds.
Berlusconi, who is also facing a separate trial on charges of paying for sex with a minor in notorious “bunga bunga” parties, had appealed to reverse the four year sentence handed down in October.
However, his lawyer Niccolo Ghedini said he had little confidence that the Milan court would listen to his arguments and repeated that judges were biased against Berluscno for political reasons.
“We realised it was totally useless to give our arguments to a court of appeals that in our opinion had decided from the first day what its judgment would be,” Ghedini told reporters.
Italy’s top appeals court this week rejected a request by Berlusconi to move his trials out of Milan, where he argued he could not get a fair trial as judges were biased against him.
Berlusconi, head of the centre-right People of Freedom party (PDL), is not a member of the coalition administration headed by Prime Minister Enrico Letta but he has the power to bring the government down in parliament.
The next hearing of his trial for paying for sex with a minor is scheduled for May 13.
Indonesian monks condemn violence in Myanmar
Monday, 06 May 2013
Hla Hla May, a Rohingya Muslim woman displaced by violence, holds her one year old daughter Roshan at a former rubber factory that now serves as their shelter, near Sittwe April 29, 2013.
REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA - Indonesian Sangha Supreme Council asked Myanmar's monks to stop violence in Myanmar. Chairman of Sangha Supreme Council, Nyanasuryanadi Mahthera expressed his profound grief over humanitarian crisis on Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine last summer.
"We condemned the involvement of many Buddhist monks in Myanmar with their various acts of violence that resulted in death, material damages and large-scale displacement in Myanmar," Mahthera said on Monday. He also appealed the monks returned to the Buddha's teachings, Dharma and Vinaya which mentioned any violance and hatred were incompatible to the Buddha's teachings.
Mahthera explained both Buddha and Islam taught people about the values of peace and tolerance. "Inter-religious harmony in Indonesia for example, had a long and deeply histories that rooted to Indonesian culture," he said. He hoped the religious and civil society leaders in Myanmar could encourage cross-community and cross-religion dialogues to scrape many concerns and suspicions among community.
