Wednesday, 26 February 2014. A court in Naples has granted the Senate of Italy's request to be a civil plaintiff in a new bribery trial with the involvement of Silvio Berlusconi.
A series of new investigations are leading a Neapolitanian court to set up a trial against Silvio Berlusconi, for bribing an Italian senator, though rumours spread that the senators might even be more than one.
Silvio Berlusconi screaming for vengeance against the "red judges"
The current case is about Mr Sergio De Gregorio, a member of the Senate of Italy who received €3m (£2.46m or $4.11m) for switching sides to centre-right, and by doing this helped bring down the centre-left government of Romano Prodi, and triggered an election that Berlusconi won, back in 2007.
Saturday, February 25, 2012. It could be the date when the former premier will be sentenced. At least that's Silvio Berlusconi's opinion.
Running out of options
“They are going to sentence me”, declared today Silvio Berlusconi to the Berlusconi-owned newspaper Il Giornale, “it's crazy, this country is in the judges' hands”.
The complaint is coming just a couple of days after an appeals court dismissed Silvio Berlusconi's claims of judicial bias, and cleared the way to proceed with a graft trial - the so-called Mills Trial - started back in 2006 (but related to events happened in the 90s). And after Mr Berlusconi managed to meet Mario Monti, the current Italian PM, trying to get some kind of support, any kind of support.
Wednesday, April 6 2011. The first session of the Silvio Berlusconi's Rubygate trial has been adjourned, after 15 minutes.
Do you know how trials work in Italy? The so-called “Rubygate” proceedings are a good example of that. Silvio Berlusconi is accused of having paid an under-age prostitute for her services, namely Karima El Mahroug, aka Ruby Rubacuori (Italian for "Ruby Heartstealer", the nom de guerre of the girl). Other women were believed to have received money for the same reason, but they were adults, and that's not a crime in Italy (I mean: it's not a crime to give money in exchange for sex to women above 18).
Court and press
The first hearings were due for on 6 April. The build-up was huge. An extensive international press coverage was set-up. Outside of the fascist-era court building in Milan an assemblage people gathered: curious folks, Berlusconi tireless haters and fans.
Wednesday, March 30 2011. The tricky ways of Silvio Berlusconi's lawyers (in the intent of finding any possible way out of the sex scandale dubbed Rubygate).
Niccolò Ghedini, lawyer
As the Prime Minister was showing off in Lampedusa, his army of indefatigable lawyers (led by Niccolò Ghedini) and solicitors were preparing for the mother of all battles, to be fought in few days.
Mara Carfagna, minister
The public prosecutors - who pledged to shut Silvio Berlusconi behind bars, sooner of later – this time are trying to prove that the PM had sex with an under-age dancer, Karima El Mahroug (commonly known as Ruby “Rubacuori”, the Heart Stealer). And paid money for her "sexual services".
More and more people refer to this sex scandal as the Rubygate.
The first hearings will take place on 6 April (if the Parliament is not going to rule the date off on the previous day, when a vote conflict of competence is foreseen), that's why Berlusconi's lawyers are sharpening their knives.
Amongst the trickiest possible weapons, one of the smartest, if you want to drag things out is the following: pack the witness box with people, possible celebrities, to make the greatest possible fuss.
That's why there are almost 80 witnesses (more then a few are women) ready to be heard.
Clooney and Canalis, friends
The defence has called the following witnesses, amongst the others (quite a few are women, beautiful women): Venezuelan showgirl Aida Yespica and Argentinian actress and showgirls Belèn Rodriguez (there is a numerous colony of South American beauties in Italy, as you might expect), Minister of for Equal Opportunity Mara Carfagna (Maxim's "World´s Hottest Politician”), Public Education's Minister Mariastella Gelmini and Foreign Affairs Minister Franco Frattini, Neapolitan singer Mariano Apicella, journalist (and king of gossip) Carlo Rossella, anchorwoman Barbara D'Urso, footballer Cristiano Ronaldo, Hollywood star George Clooney and his girlfriend Elisabetta Canalis.
Quite a list, isn't it? Funny Berlusconi.
A bewildered George Clooney considers “odd” the idea that he could be called as a witness in the bunga-bunga sex scandal trial of Silvio Berlusconi, since he only met the Italian prime minister once (and it was in relation of quite a different topic: raising money for the population of Darfour).
Ilda Boccassini, judge
On the other side of the fence, the judge Ilda Boccassini and her prosecutors have also prepared quite a long list of witnesses (more than 130), but 33 (or perhaps 43, as somebody said) out of them are just, you know, bunga-bunga girls and women.
