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...Berlusconi's center-right government had pushed through the so-called Lodo Alfano law last year. The law granted immunity for the country's four highest officeholders. The court's decision means the Prime Minister must now face outstanding criminal charges in three corruption cases that are already under way. Most notably, Berlusconi is accused of paying British-born lawyer David Mills to lie on his behalf during an earlier corruption trial. Mills, the husband of Britain's Olympics Minister, Tessa Jowell, has already been convicted in the case. Both Mills, who is appealing the verdict, and Berlusconi, deny...
...most prosecuted" man in Italian history never to be convicted. His criminal record is indeed clean, thanks to a string of not-guilty verdicts as well as expired statutes of limitations and modifications to laws through his control of Parliament. In 2003, he became the first Italian Prime Minister to testify in a case against him, rousing a packed courtroom with a nearly hour-long defense in a Milan corruption case in which he was eventually acquitted. (See pictures of Italy...
...quite Nanni Moretti, Berlusconi's current situation has all the elements of a Pedro Almodóvar film: A Prime Minister on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown. Following the court's judgment on Wednesday night, he launched into a diatribe in front of television cameras accusing magistrates, "72% of the press," public broadcaster RAI, comedians, the court and the President of the Republic of being leftists...
...called poteri forti (strong powers) of Italian business and cultural élites who are allied with magistrates and foreign governments that are worried that Berlusconi has become a liability for political and economic stability. But even if there were such a surreptitious movement afoot to unseat the Prime Minister, any supposed "strong powers" from outside of Parliament would also require some sign of strength from within the political system. And even a weakened Berlusconi still looks mighty strong compared to the rest of Italy's political class...
...Even Pakistani parties that have suffered directly as a result of military intervention in politics have bristled at perceived U.S. interference. "These are matters which have to be decided by us, the Parliament and the government of Pakistan," says opposition leader Nisar Ali Khan, of the party of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, deposed in a 1999 coup. "If there's external involvement, it does no good to us, our sovereignty." See pictures of the battle against the Taliban...