Italy's ex-PM Berlusconi acquitted in bribery case

An Italian court on Thursday acquitted former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi of  bribing a witness in a 2013 underage prostitution case.

Berlusconi was accused of having paid Italian singer Mariano Apicella €157,000 ($162,680) to make false statements in a previous trial where Berlusconi was accused of having paid money to have sex with a 17-year-old girl.

"I am satisfied," Berlusconi told reporters after the verdict was delivered in a court in Rome on Thursday.

Court acquits witness too

Berlusconi, the founder and leader of the conservative Forza Italia party pleaded not guilty in the subsequent bribery trial.

The judges also acquitted Apicella of receiving bribes and cleared him of alleged perjury because the time limit for reaching a verdict for the crime had passed.

Apicella was a regular at Berlusconi's infamous "Bunga Bunga" sex parties at his villa near Milan.

Berlusconi was charged in 2013 for having sex with an underage prostitute at one of his sex parties, but the charge was overturned the next year.

Berlusconi faces another trial

Berlusconi still faces another trial in Milan, where he is accused of bribing 24 witnesses that attended his sex parties, which he called "elegant dinners."

For the case in Milan, prosecutors have requested Berlusconi be sentenced to jail for six years. Berlusconi has denied the charge and a verdict is not expected before January 2023.

Last year, a court in Siena acquitted Berlusconi of bribing another witness to his parties. Prosecutors have appealed the ruling, but no trial date has been set.

Berlusconi's 2022 comeback

Berlusconi was re-elected to Italy's upper house with more than 50% of the votes in September in the northern city of Monza, where he also owns a soccer team.

That marked a significant comeback for him as he was expelled from the Senate in 2013 because of a tax fraud conviction stemming from his media business.

While overall his party lost ground compared with 2018 general elections, it fared better than expected in this year's vote, gaining just over 8% votes in the elections, which was dominated by his ally Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's fa-right party.

The Forza Italia party is part of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's ruling alliance.

rm/aw (Reuters, AP, dpa)