AC Milan President Silvio Berlusconi has been sentenced to seven years in jail in Bunga Bunga sex trial. He was further banned from holding Public Office for life on monday after an Italian Court found him guilty of abuse of office and paying for sex with an underage prostitute. Here we unfold the exact story for you.
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| Troubled Times Ahead? |
Three female judges in the court in Milan deliberated for more than seven hours before finding the 76-year-old former prime minister guilty on both charges.
The convictions were a bitter blow for Mr Berlusconi and his supporters, with close allies denouncing the court’s verdict as “absurd” and “a coup d’etat” by an allegedly left-wing judiciary.
What charges does Silvio Berlusconi face?
Silvio Berlusconi faces two charges – both of which he denies – abuse of office and paying for sex with an allegedly under age prostitute, a Moroccan-born nightclub dancer called Ruby the Heart Stealer.
The abuse of office concerns calls he made to a Milan police station in May 2010 to have Ruby – real name, Karima El Mahroug – released from custody on a theft charge. She was 17 at the time. He was allegedly alerted to the arrest by Michelle Conceicao, a Brazilian showgirl who prosecutors allege was working as a prostitute, who called him on his mobile phone – at the time he was attending an OSCE summit in Paris.
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| Moroccan-born pole dancer Karima El Mahroug (Getty Images) |
The alleged cover-up Prosecutors say Mr Berlusconi was terrified that police would find out that the young woman had been attending his so-called "bunga bunga" parties at his villa outside Milan. He allegedly wanted to hush up his relationship with Ruby, who prosecutors say attended 13 of the parties, starting on Valentine's Day, 2010. He told the police in Milan that Ruby was the granddaughter of Hosni Mubarak, the Egyptian leader, and that she must be released in order to avoid a diplomatic incident with Cairo. He ordered Nicole Minetti, an Anglo-Italian showgirl turned politician, to go to the police station to fetch Miss El Mahroug. She was then consigned to the care of Miss Conceicao, the Brazilian starlet.
What penalties does he face?
Prosecutors have asked for Mr Berlusconi to be found guilty and sentenced to six years in prison. They also want him banned from public office for five years. The three judges who will make the decision are all women.
What is "bunga bunga"?
There are two explanations of where the phrase comes from and what it means. Mr Berlusconi says it is from a politically incorrect joke that he likes to tell about a pair of Left-wing politicians who are captured by a tribe of cannibals in Africa. The second explanation is that it is a phrase he borrowed from his friend, the late Muammar Gaddafi, and refers to a harem of young women. Either way, it has come to mean erotic parties and sexual favours dispensed by young women.
What happened at the parties?
Prosecutors allege that more than 30 glamorous young women attended Mr Berlusconi's parties, performing strip teases and erotic dances in an underground "bunga bunga" room which featured a stage, a bar and a small dance floor. On one occasion they kissed and fondled a statuette of Priapus, the god of fertility. They allegedly "touched the intimate parts" of Mr Berlusconi, who in turn touched them intimately, according to witness statements compiled by prosecutors. The then prime minister allegedly gave the women thousands of euros each time to attend the parties.
Who is Ruby the Heart Stealer?
Karima El Mahroug was born in Morocco but brought to Italy as a child. Her immigrant parents settled in Sicily, where they struggled to make ends meet. She ran away from home several times in her teens. She took part in a beauty contest, where she was spotted by Emilio Fede, a friend of Mr Berlusconi's who works as a presenter on one of his TV channels. Mr Fede allegedly invited the teenager to attend a "bunga bunga" party at Mr Berlusconi's villa near Milan. In a separate trial, he faces charges of procuring prostitutes for Mr Berlusconi. The prime minister took a shine to her and allegedly gave her tens of thousands of euros in cash. Prosecutors insist she had sex with him in exchange for the money, but she denies that and says she has never worked as an escort.
What are the chances that Mr Berlusconi will end up in jail?
Slim. Even if he is convicted on one or both of the charges, his lawyers will launch an appeal. He will remain at liberty pending that appeal. If he loses that, he will have recourse to a second appeal, which would be heard by Italy's Supreme Court. The whole process could drag the case out for years. And Italian courts rarely jail people in their seventies, unless they are convicted of really serious charges such as murder.
Mr Berlusconi was not in court but in a statement handed down a few hours after the verdict, he said he had been “convinced” that he would be found not guilty, claiming there was not enough evidence against him.
“Instead they handed down an unbelievable sentence, of a harshness never before witnessed, in order to try to eliminate me from the political life of this country."
He insisted he would fight the verdict he described as a "persecution", insisting he was "absolutely innocent".
The sex trial, which lasted more than two years, lifted the lid on the “bunga bunga” parties Mr Berlusconi began organising at his mansion outside Milan in 2010 after his long-suffering wife announced that she was filing for divorce.
The media tycoon insisted publicly and in court that the parties were nothing more than “elegant dinners” at which he crooned sentimental love songs and regaled his female guests with anecdotes.
At most, he said, they involved the young women, who were “by their nature exhibitionists”, performing “burlesque contests” which he conceded he watched with “great interest”.
But the three judges in the trial agreed with the prosecution that Mr Berlusconi had developed a system of prostitution designed to “satisfy his sexual pleasure”.
The judges recommended that more than 30 witnesses who gave evidence on Mr Berlusconi’s behalf, including topless models and a Neapolitan musician with whom he has recorded CDs of sugary ballads, be investigated for false testimony.
Mr Berlusconi was accused of paying tens of thousands of euros for sex with a Moroccan-born erotic dancer, Karima El Mahroug, who called herself “Ruby the Heart Stealer”.
Now 20, at the time she was just 17. Under Italian law it is illegal to pay for sex with a woman under the age of 18. Mr Berlusconi claimed she had told him she was 24.
In court, she denied having sex with the septuagenarian, but in an intercepted phone call she told a friend, Caterina Pasquino: “I’m at Berlusconi’s, I’ll dance, then I’ll strip, then I’ll have sex.” She later said she had been joking.
The three-time prime minister and owner of AC Milan was also accused of abusing his political office by putting pressure on Milan police to release her after she was arrested on charges of stealing money and jewellery from her flatmate.
Mr Berlusconi told the police that Ruby was the grand-daughter of Hosni Mubarak, the then Egyptian president, and that she must be released in order to avoid a diplomatic incident.
Miss El Mahroug told investigators that she had witnessed showgirls dressing up in nurses’ outfits and police uniforms, stripping down to their underwear and engaging in mock lesbian shows.
One model, Marystelle Polanco, performed a dance while wearing a Barack Obama face mask with white knickers and suspenders.
The women allegedly “touched the intimate parts” of Mr Berlusconi, who in turn touched them intimately, rewarding them with envelopes stuffed full of thousands of euros.
On one occasion they kissed and fondled a statuette of Priapus, the god of fertility, according to the testimony of two 18-year-old beauty contestants who said they were so shocked by what they saw that they immediately asked to leave.
The women performed erotic dances in an underground “bunga bunga” room at his villa, featuring a stage, a bar and a dance floor.
The villa, in Arcore outside Milan, was swiftly dubbed “Hardcore” by the Italian press.
Piero Longo, one of Mr Berlusconi’s lawyers, said they would appeal the conviction. If that is unsuccesful, Mr Berlusconi has recourse to a second appeal in front of Italy’s Supreme Court. Together they could drag the case out for years.
Pending the appeals, the billionaire businessman will not go to jail.
The many trials against Mr Berlusconi have an acute political dimension — for 20 years he has accused judges and magistrates of being tools of the centre-left opposition.
He and his supporters could withdraw backing from the fragile, four-month-old coalition government of Enrico Letta, the prime minister, in order to force new elections which he would have a fighting chance of winning.
That would enable him to bring in an immunity law or other measures which could shield him from this sentence and others that he faces, notably a four-year sentence for tax fraud in his Mediaset company which he is currently appealing.
The Supreme Court is to rule on that case later this year and could in theory send Mr Berlusconi to prison, though defendants in their seventies are rarely locked up in Italy.
But the ruling could unleash what has been dubbed “the nuclear option” — MPs from his People of Freedom party have threatened a mass resignation that would pitch the coalition into chaos.
What do you think about this shocking incidence which brings a disgrace to the world of football? Leave your comments below!
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