Verdict time for Italian Silvio Berlusconi

25.02.2012

Silvio Berlusconi faces a verdict on bribery charges on Saturday in one of four trials against a once dominant presence in Italian politics who is increasingly harried by legal woes in his old age.

Judges will retire to consider the verdict after the defence makes its final arguments in a hearing in Milan set to start at around 0900 GMT. Lawyers said they were expecting the verdict to come in the late afternoon or evening.

Prosecutors have requested a five-year prison term for Berlusconi, who protests his innocence, but he is unlikely to see the inside of a cell even if convicted because the case is about to expire under a statute of limitations.

Sentencing guidelines in Italy are also very lenient for over-70s and the larger-than-life billionaire is 75 years old.

The trial, which has been going on for five years, revolves around the allegation that Berlusconi paid off his former British tax lawyer David Mills to provide false testimony in his favour in two trials in the 1990s.