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Italy court sentences former Berlusconi lawyer to prison for accepting bribe

By Bernard Hibbitts (editor) and University of Pittsburgh School of Law students.

[JURIST] An Italian court on Tuesday sentenced David Mills, a British barrister and former lawyer to Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, to four-and-a-half years in prison for accepting a $600,000 bribe to give false testimony at two trials in 1997 and 1998 involving Berlusconi broadcasting company Mediaset. The verdict was announced in an as-yet unpublished opinion from Judge Nicoletta Gandus, who Berlusconi unsuccessfully attempted to remove from the trial as biased last June. The judgment also ordered Mills to pay 275,000 euros in perversion of justice fines and court costs. Mills was sentenced in absentia and said that he will appeal the verdict. Mills's testimonies at issue were given during trials accusing Berlusconi of giving kickbacks to the late Socialist premier Bettino Craxi. Berlusconi was acquitted of all those charges. The bribery and corruption trial against Berlusconi and Mills began in 2007, but Berlusconi was removed as a defendant in July after a new law granted top Italian lawmakers immunity from prosecution while in office. Italy's Constitutional Court is now considering the legality of the law, and the case against Berlusconi could resume if the high court strikes it down. A judicial reform bill currently being considered by the Italian parliament could further stall Berlusconi's trial even if the immunity law is rejected by the high court, as a clause in the bill would require the court to restart the proceeding from the beginning.

Full post as published by JURIST - The Paper Chase on February 18, 2009 (boomark / email).