Berlusconi appeals trial given go-ahead

Italy’s top criminal court today ruled that former Premier Silvio Berlusconi should face an appeals trial on corruption charges.

The media mogul-turned-politician was acquitted in December 2004 for allegedly bribing judges in an attempt to stop the SME state food conglomerate from being sold to a rival industrialist in 1985.

Attempts to bring the case to an appeals court had been blocked by a law passed by Mr Berlusconi’s government, which barred prosecutors from appealing against acquittals from an initial trial.

But Italy’s Constitutional Court overturned the law last month, prompting the Court of Cassation to rule that Mr Berlusconi should be retried, said lawyer Niccolo Ghedini. No date had been set, he said.