by Emilio Parodi
MILAN, Feb 15 (Reuters) – An Italian court is due to deliver its verdict on Wednesday in a trial for witness tampering in a child prostitution case brought against former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.
Prosecutors in Milan, where the case is being investigated, have requested six years in prison against Silvio Berlusconi, accused of having bribed 24 people, invited to parties organized by the former businessman, so that they make a fake testimony at a previous trial in which he was tried for having paid sex with a 17-year-old dancer.
Silvio Berlusconi denies the accusations against him and claims to be the victim of a plot fomented by the magistrates to force him to leave politics.
The parties, known as “bunga bunga”, are at the origin of the scandal which contributed to the departure of Silvio Berlusconi from the presidency of the Council in 2011.
The former head of the Italian government was acquitted in November after another trial for tampering with a witness instructed in Rome.
Last year, a court in Siena acquitted Silvio Berlusconi of the corruption of another witness; the prosecution appealed. (Report Crispian Balmer; French version Camille Raynaud)
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