An Italian appeals court on Tuesday reduced the prison term handed to Marcello Dell’Utri, a conservative senator and key ally of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. The court in the southern city of Palermo handed Dell’Utri a seven-year prison sentence for Mafia association.
The court acquitted Dell’Utri of all crimes committed after 1992, thereby reducing the nine-year jail term handed to Dell’Utri by a lower court in 2004.
Dell’Utri’s defence welcomed Tuesday’s ruling. “This quashes any allegation that negotiations took place between the Italian state and the Mafia,” said Dell’Utri’s lawyer Antonino Mormino.
He was referring to claims that Dell’Utri was involved in alleged negotiations with the Mafia which allegedly led to the creation of Forza Italia, the party founded by Mr Berlusconi and Dell’Utri in 1994.
“We have yet to see the reasoning behind the verdict, but it is clear: Dell’Utri has been cleared of any charges relating to the period after 1992,” he said.
In Italy, the reasoning for a sentence is usually issued some weeks after the verdict.
Mr Mormino said there was a possibility Italy’s statute of limitations could “time out” the crimes for which Dell’Utri was convicted in the period before 1992.
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Judge clears PM assailant
Milan, June 29: An Italian judge on Tuesday acquitted on grounds of diminished responsibility the mentally unbalanced man who attacked Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi at a political rally last year. Judge Luisa Savoia ruled that Massimo Tartaglia be placed under a control order for a year and obey a community psychiatric therapy centre director’s orders during that time.
Mr Tartaglia is also banned from attending political rallies for twelve months, Ms Savoia said.
Public prosecutors requested the judge to drop criminal charges against Massimo Tartaglia at his fast-tracked trial in Milan on Tuesday.
By arrangement with AKI