Milan: Italy`s magistrates on Thursday hit back
at Silvio Berlusconi after the prime minister charged that a
probe launched by prosecutors into his relations with a
teenage girl was politically motivated.
The president of the Italian magistrates` association,
Luca Palamara, told the SkyTG24 channel that Berlusconi`s
charges were "unacceptable" and "seriously threatened the
autonomy and independence of the magistracy."
"We don`t want to be dragged into a theatre which is
not ours, that of political opposition and conflict," he said,
adding that he was defending "the peace of my colleagues who
are conducting inquiries."
Magistrates respected the presumption of innocence
imposed by the Italian constitution, he added.
It emerged this week that prosecutors in Milan were
accusing Berlusconi of consorting with prostitutes and other
women he kept in rent-free luxury apartments, and paying for
sex with an underage disco dancer.
Having sex with an underage prostitute has been
punishable with a prison sentence since Berlusconi`s
right-wing government voted in a law against it in 2006.
"There`s been no graft, no incitement to prostitution,
not even of a minor," Berlusconi said on television yesterday.
He slammed a "new, very serious attack on the part of
the magistrates who have trampled on the laws for political
ends" and "want to use the affair as a political weapon".
The Milan prosecutor`s office announced the
investigation on Friday, just a day after a top court ruling
partially stripped the prime minister of political immunity.
Prosecutors have summoned Berlusconi for questioning
but the prime minister says they are not qualified to handle
the case.
He said the magistrates had tried to undermine him
politically, and accused them of "violating basic
constitutional principles" such as the right to a private life
by wiretapping on guests who attended his parties.
He said the magistrates had used highly sophisticated
technology to spy on his guests, "as if they had to carry out
a raid against the Mafia", and added that their behaviour
"cannot go without adequate punishment".
PTI
