Berlusconi sex trial postponed
2013-02-11 20:03
Milan - Silvio Berlusconi's trial on charges of paying
for sex with a minor will be postponed until after this month's election due to
his campaign commitments, Italian judges ruled on Monday.
The next hearing in the trial will now be held on 4 March,
a week after the 24-25 February elections. Milan judges upheld an argument from
Berlusconi's legal team that his political campaign constituted a legitimate
impediment to his attendance.
The 76-year-old media magnate and leader of the
centre-right coalition, who faces separate trials for tax fraud and other
offences, has had all his trials postponed until March.
The so-called "Bunga Bunga" scandal, in which
Berlusconi is accused of paying for sex with an underage night-club dancer, was
among factors that accelerated his demise as prime minister in late 2011, at
the peak of the eurozone debt crisis.
Berlusconi has conducted a vigorous television campaign
which has enabled him to pick up support in opinion polls but his centre-right
alliance still lags the centre-left Democratic Party.
