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| Europe |
| Immunity law passed in Italy |
| 2008-07-23 |
| ROME (AP) - Italy's Parliament gave final approval Tuesday to a contentious law that grants immunity from prosecution to Premier Silvio Berlusconi and other top Italian officials. The Senate passed the legislation by a wide margin after it previously sailed through the lower house of Parliament. Berlusconi's conservatives have a comfortable majority in both chambers. The legislation protects the president, the premier and the two speakers of parliament from court prosecutions while in office. It will enter into effect once President Giorgio Napolitano signs it. Critics have charged that the law is aimed at protecting Berlusconi from a current corruption case in Milan. Berlusconi is accused of ordering payment in 1997 of at least $600,000 to his co-defendant, British lawyer David Mills, in exchange for false testimony at two Berlusconi trials in the 1990s. The defendants deny the charges. Berlusconi has depicted himself as the victim of left-leaning magistrates. |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #1 I'll assume the magistrates are guilty until proven innocent (guilty of leftism, that is.) |
| Posted by: Elmavirong Johnson3058 2008-07-23 08:22 |