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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, January 14, 2004

Court blocks immunity for Italian premier

In a major setback Tuesday for Premier Silvio Berlusconi, Italy's Constitutional Court ruled the immunity law that blocked his bribery trial is unconstitutional, paving the way for the case to return to the courtroom.


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In a major setback Tuesday for Premier Silvio Berlusconi, Italy's Constitutional Court ruled the immunity law that blocked his bribery trial is unconstitutional, paving the way for the case to return to the courtroom.

The trial in Milan was expected to resume in about two months with a new panel of judges, one of the premier's lawyers, Niccolo Ghedini, told The Associated Press.

The trial was approaching a verdict in June when the law, backed by Berlusconi's center-right coalition, took effect.

Parliament passed the legislation with lightning speed shortly before Berlusconi stepped into the European Union presidency, a rotating position he held the last six months of 2003.

The law protects the premier and four other top officeholders from prosecution while in office.

But the Constitutional Court, Italy's highest court for constitutional matters, ruled the law violates the constitutional principle that all citizens are equal before the law. The court's decisions cannot be appealed.

A top member of Berlusconi's government, Foreign Minister Franco Frattini, said the court's ruling suggests that Italy needs to guarantee such immunity by changing the constitution instead of enacting simple legislation.

Prosecutors "have the right to investigate but also the duty not to interfere" with a popular mandate given to an elected official, Frattini said on state television.

Berlusconi's critics, who had long contended that the legislation was designed to rescue the billionaire media mogul from possible conviction, praised the ruling.

Source: Agencies














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