It can (should and will) happen here

Milan court orders Berlusconi tried

MILAN, Italy — A court Monday ordered former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi to stand trial on charges of corruption along with the estranged husband of Britain's culture minister.

Berlusconi is accused of ordering the payment in 1997 of at least $600,000 to his co-defendant British lawyer David Mills, a close friend, in exchange for the lawyer's false testimony in two trials against Berlusconi. Both deny the allegations.
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Mills is married to British Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell. They formally separated in March.

Judge Fabio Paparella issued the ruling after refusing a defense motion to remove himself from the case because he is presiding over a separate case charging Berlusconi and Mills with false accounting, embezzlement and tax fraud in the purchase by Berlusconi's Mediaset empire of TV rights for U.S. movies.

The new case is set to go to trial March 13. If convicted, Mills and Berlusconi could be sentenced to between three and eight years in prison, according to prosecutors.

Berlusconi's lawyer, Niccolo Ghedini, said the decision to open another trial against Berlusconi was expected, but he expressed disappointment the judge didn't wait for a higher court to decide on whether he should step aside.

"Everything went as we thought it would. It is like scripted," Ghedini said outside the courtroom.

He noted that two requests were pending to higher courts for Paparella to step aside in the case _ leaving open the possibility if one or the other succeeds that the charges will supersede their statute of limitations, which runs out in February 2008. "This is not what we want. We want an acquittal," Ghedini said.

Mills' Italian lawyer, Federico Cecconi, said there was no evidence to support the charges.

"In the trial we will highlight that there is no evidence that there has been illicit payments on the part of Mediaset group," Cecconi said.

Berlusconi has a long history of legal troubles linked to his business interests based in Milan.

In past cases, he was either acquitted or cleared of the charges because the statute of limitations had expired. He has always maintained his innocence.

Original article posted here.