Berlusconi faces the judgment of a Milan court, and increasingly disgruntled votersBy Peter Popham in Rome
17 April 2004
After nine months on ice, the trial of the Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi on charges of bribing judges got under way again in Milan yesterday.
Mr Berlusconi was not in court, but the proceedings immediately ran into trouble when the prosecution claimed that the presiding judge, Francesco Castellano, might be biased and asked him to stand down. They said he had jeopardised his position by telling Il Giornale, a newspaper owned by Mr Berlusconi's brother, that the trial was "not normal", and that corruption magistrates had devoted much of their attention to the Prime Minister's business affairs.
"The fact that
gave the interview was a serious interference with a case under way," Ilda Boccassini, the chief prosecutor, told the court. After three hours of debate the bench of three judges rejected the prosecution's request.
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