Berlusconi suffers lawsuit setbacks

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has suffered a string of defeats in recent defamation cases, undermining his efforts to seize the legal high ground after a decade of graft probes into his business empire.

Mr Berlusconi struck back last year, filing lawsuits against media and political opponents whom he accused of besmirching his name.

Critics accused him of trying to use the courts to silence his foes, but over the past month prosecutors and judges in three cities have rejected all Mr Berlusconi's complaints, fuelling a debate over the justice system and freedom of speech in Italy.

"Objectively speaking it's not possible to say that this is a conspiracy but at the same time, objectively speaking, the number of shelved defamation cases is extraordinary," said Gaetano Pecorella, one of Mr Berlusconi's many lawyers and a member of parliament for the premier's Forza Italia (Go Italy) party.

Mr Berlusconi went on the offensive last May, suing a heckler who had called him a "buffoon". In September he sought damages from leftist leader Piero Fassino, who had accused him of orchestrating a smear campaign against political opponents.

But judges in Milan and Bologna recently dropped both cases, saying the attacks were part of the hurly-burly of Italian politics, which is famed for its high drama. "If it is legitimate to call your prime minister a buffoon and get away with it, then I think you can get away with anything," Mr Pecorella told Reuters yesterday.

In a further blow to the prime minister, a Rome court ruled last month that La Repubblica newspaper had not broken libel laws by re-printing a 2001 article in Britain's "The Economist" magazine that had denounced Mr Berlusconi as "unfit to lead Italy".

A Milan public prosecutor delivered the coup de grace on Friday, ruling that Mr Berlusconi's media group Mediaset had no grounds to sue Sabina Guzzanti, a television comedian who had accused the firm of interfering in government affairs.

Prosecutor Giuliano Turone said in a 28-page report that Ms Guzzanti's comments were not only socially relevant but also "objectively true in their essential elements".

State broadcaster RAI cancelled Ms Guzzanti's show when Mediaset launched its suit, leading to accusations of censorship. The comedian demanded at the weekend that her programme be reinstated, but has so far had no answer.

Mr Berlusconi, who branded magistrates last year as "mentally disturbed", has not commented on his latest legal reversals, but Il Giornale, a newspaper owned by the prime minister's brother, accused the courts of double standards.

"This is the only 'dictatorship' in the world where shouting 'buffoon' at the prime minister is a political right," the paper said, referring to leftist charges that Mr Berlusconi heads a dictatorship.

Mr Berlusconi returns to the dock as a defendant in a corruption case in April after the Constitutional Court last month stripped him of his legal immunity. His lawyers hope that by then his legal luck will have changed.

"We are convinced that that verdict will be in his favour," said Nicolo Ghedini, a lawyer and Forza Italia parliamentarian.