Berlusconi facing sex and power abuse charges, will be tried by female judges
Posted Wednesday, February 16, 2011 by Montrealgazette.com
Karima El Mahroug, seen here at a November 2010 photocall in Milan, is at the centre of allegations against Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who on Tuesday was ordered to stand trial on a charge that he paid El Mahroug for sex when she was underage.
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's regime, dubbed a "tartocracy" due to the playboy billionaire's inclusion of ex-showgirls in his cabinet, is facing its greatest challenge yet after a judge sent him to trial Tuesday on sex and abuse of power charges.
Berlusconi, the subject of a massive national protest Sunday over his career-long treatment of women, will be tried in April by three female judges.
"It would be a delicious irony indeed if the people who finally pushed Berlusconi out of power were the women he has spent so much of his career exploiting and degrading," wrote James Walston, a professor of international relations at the American University of Rome, on the Foreign Policy Magazine website.
The 74-year-old is accused of paying to have sex with Moroccan Karima el-Mahroug, then 17, while she was a guest at one of his "bunga bunga" parties in a villa near Milan.
He is also charged with abuse of power because he used his clout to get el-Mahroug, a showgirl with the stage name Ruby Heart-Stealer, released from jail after she had been accused of theft.
Berlusconi, who has rejected all charges, is accusing the judiciary of attempting a "coup." He has deployed his powerful media empire to try to discredit the prosecution.
El-Mahroug, now 18, has said she didn't have sex with the prime minister but did receive almost $10,000 from him after attending one of his parties.
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