 "Italy court says Berlusconi 'paid off witnesses' in sex trial")
Italy's Silvio Berlusconi, found guilty in June of paying for sex with an underage prostitute, falsified evidence and corrupted dozens of witnesses in a bid to escape jail, a court report said today.
Judges discovered "persistent delinquency... Consisting of the systematic falsification of evidence... And the paying off of witnesses," the court said in a sum-up of its decision to sentence the former premier to seven years behind bars and ban him from public office.
The 77-year-old playboy orchestrated the "sexual exhibition of young ladies" which turned into "so-called bunga bunga sessions in which the female guests competed to do the accused's bidding," the court said.
Berlusconi was found guilty of paying for sex on several occasions with Moroccan-born Karima El-Mahroug, a then 17-year-old exotic dancer and glamour girl nicknamed "Ruby the Heart Stealer".
El-Mahroug had described the "bunga bunga" sessions of erotic dancing to interrogators in 2010, saying Berlusconi had picked up the custom from former Libyan dictator Moamer Kadhafi.
The trial "proved that the accused engaged in sexual acts with 'Ruby' in exchange for enormous amounts of money and other benefits, such as jewels," the court said in the report, published by Italian media.
Under Italian law Berlusconi's prison sentence is suspended until the appeals process is exhausted. The case is expected to go before an appeal court in 2014.
The three-time premier's lawyers, Niccolo Ghedini and Piero Longo, said in a note that the report was "surreal... totally against logic, the evidence and the founding principles of the law.
Judges discovered "persistent delinquency... Consisting of the systematic falsification of evidence... And the paying off of witnesses," the court said in a sum-up of its decision to sentence the former premier to seven years behind bars and ban him from public office.
The 77-year-old playboy orchestrated the "sexual exhibition of young ladies" which turned into "so-called bunga bunga sessions in which the female guests competed to do the accused's bidding," the court said.
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The two-year trial had been rich with allegations of raunchy parties held in the billionaire's mansion, complete with strippers dressed as nuns and erotic party games with topless girls.
Berlusconi was found guilty of paying for sex on several occasions with Moroccan-born Karima El-Mahroug, a then 17-year-old exotic dancer and glamour girl nicknamed "Ruby the Heart Stealer".
El-Mahroug had described the "bunga bunga" sessions of erotic dancing to interrogators in 2010, saying Berlusconi had picked up the custom from former Libyan dictator Moamer Kadhafi.
The trial "proved that the accused engaged in sexual acts with 'Ruby' in exchange for enormous amounts of money and other benefits, such as jewels," the court said in the report, published by Italian media.
Under Italian law Berlusconi's prison sentence is suspended until the appeals process is exhausted. The case is expected to go before an appeal court in 2014.
The three-time premier's lawyers, Niccolo Ghedini and Piero Longo, said in a note that the report was "surreal... totally against logic, the evidence and the founding principles of the law.