Berlusconi

Great video on Berlusconi's sex scandal.

Funny macarronic English lyrics (hard for non English-Italian bilingual people, I admit):

<snort>
There are lots of things I don't get, like what is Arcore? The Triumphant one? Magistrate is Berlusconi? Something about via Olgettina? Lelemore? Miss Minetti, a woman who criticized Berlusconi.. minorenn (I'm a minor!) A juvenile under eighteen! Carlo Rossella - related to scandal as a witness..
And so on.

I think I get the giddy play to win prizes in life context.

Arcore is Berlusconi's villa near Milan, where orgies were made.

Nicole Minetti is the woman accused of sending girls under 18 to the parties, including the "gnocc from Marocc" (the gnocchi from Morocco"), Ruby, center of the scandal. Minetti, 25, is now a member of the Parliament of Lombardy ("and that's how half of PDL -Berlusconi's party- started") and seems to have had a love affair with Berlusconi. Ruby got 5 million euros for shutting up.

Via Olgettina is where the girls got their "palazzin" (small palaces) "bilocale with terrazzin" (two bedrooms and terrace) for their "favors".

The magistrates are the ones investigating Berlusconi, and the ones who intervened telephones.

I know it's tough to understand if you don't speak Italian. If you do, it's absolutely hilarious.

I'm in between - speak like a fool but can usually get the gist of articles, though not with the speed of light, more like the speed of just reading with stops for translation confusion. Gnocchi from Morocco, funny, at least as word play.

Which is what I thought re magistrate but was confused by the jollity about it/him and thought I probably didn't get it.

I've followed Berlusconi since at least the pinocchios in the piazza (there was a NYT photo back then, protesters perhaps in front of parliament) on his first efforts - but I see I have to tune up my interest level.

I gather part of the problem is that any and all opposition is disorganized. As well that italians are not puritanic so all this sex scandal stuff is not a big deal (not that I disagree, at least much). As well as that there is (according to some articles I've read) a fear of 'communists' getting control. Putting the kittens in parliament is a problem to me, plus all the legislative changes to protect himself.

The problem is not the sex-scandals per se (Italians of all ideologies really laughed at Gary Hart's predicament, while I was studying there: it made no sense for them, as Lewinski didn't), but induction to prostitution by a minor.

Opposition to Berlusconi is not dissorganized, but fragmented.


(I should also add that "gnocca" does not only refer to gnocchi: it also means "pussy", and I'm not talking about cats).

Oh, good, I learn something every day. No one told me this in class. I'll never think of gnocchi quite the same way.

Fragmented, well, yes.

induction to prostitution by a minor - that helps me get it, as it seems more than usual are getting fed up.

Shame SHAME that the bastard got away with his corruption!!! BBB

Berlusconi Victorious: Court Ends Corruption Case
by The Associated Press
February 25, 2012

A Milan court ended a corruption trial against Silvio Berlusconi on Saturday, ruling that the statute of limitations had run out on the case and essentially handing Italy's former premier another victory in a long string of judicial woes he has faced.

The billionaire media mogul wasn't in court when the three judges read out their verdict after about two hours of deliberation. Defendants in Italy aren't required to attend their trials.

Berlusconi had denied any wrongdoing. He was accused of paying a British lawyer David Mills $600,000 to lie during two 1990s trials to shield the politician and his Fininvest holding company from charges related to his business dealings.

Berlusconi's lawyers successfully argued that the case should be thrown out because the statute of limitation had run out.

It is "useless to comment," prosecutor Fabio De Pasquale told reporters as he left the courtroom. Prosecutors had demanded conviction and a five-year sentence.

One of Berlusconi's lawyers, Piero Longo, indicated that the defense team was less than elated with the decision because it would have preferred a verdict of acquittal, Sky TG24 TV said.

The three-judge panel began its deliberations on Saturday after Berlusconi's defense made its closing statements, arguing that Berlusconi should be cleared of corruption.

Berlusconi, 75, stepped down as premier in November after failing to come up with convincing reforms to help Italy exit from the sovereign debt crisis. He had issued a statement Friday railing against magistrates for the "many trials" against him, and saying that he doesn't remember having met Mills.

"Mills was one of many lawyers abroad that occasionally worked for the Fininvest group. I don't recall ever having met him," Berlusconi said in that statement. He added that Mills had received the $600,000 from an Italian arms dealer for some legal work and had made up the story that the money had been a gift from Fininvest employee, who had since died, to avoid paying a 50 percent tax on earnings.

By prosecutors' calculations, the statute of limitations on Berlusconi's case should have expired by July. Evidently the court didn't agree. But even the prosecutors' time frame would not have allowed for the two levels of appeal required to finalize any verdict.

The trial was suspended many times due to Berlusconi's obligations as premier and during a period when parliament had granted him immunity, complicating the calculation. In Italy, the clock on the statute of limitations continues to tick even after a trial begins.

Mills was convicted in 2009 on bribery charges, but his conviction was overturned by Italy's highest court after the statute of limitations expired.

The corruption trial is one of several Berlusconi is currently facing in Milan, including charges that he paid an underage Moroccan teenager to have sex with him, then used his influence to cover it up. Both he and the young woman have denied the charges.

The charge of using his influence to cover up a crime could bring an additional penalty that would bar Berlusconi from again seeking public office, but that would only occur if a guilty verdict is confirmed on the final appeal.

Berlusconi has faced dozens of trials in Milan, mostly for his business dealings. He has either been acquitted or seen the charges expire under the statute of limitations.

Ugh again.

In the news today.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-21921139

Oh, I gotta laugh.

I know, it made me chuckle too.

Btw, there's lots of bad blood between India and Italy right now. The Italian ambassador has been told not to leave the country because he gave a personal assurance that two Italian marines charged with killing Indian fishermen would return to stand trial if they were allowed home to vote. They never came back.

Yeh, I've been following (naturlich!)

I read they are going back, but then there's talk of there being a trial in Italy. Well, that was yesterday, I think, or maybe Saturday, that I read that. We'll see.

Oh and then there's stuff going on re herself, Amanda K. Don't tell Oralloy.

That's going to be very hard, we're such good mates.

hahahahahahaha

As if I wasn't already 1,000 times more informed than you are on nearly every subject?

Fixed.

Prosecutors have demanded a six-year sentence and lifetime ban from public office at the sex scandal trial of former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-22513863