Court defends Berlusconi decision

Italy’s highest criminal court has defended its decision to bring forward former premier Silvio Berlusconi’s tax fraud appeal saying it had to move quickly before the statute of limitations expired.

Berlusconi’s allies have denounced the decision by the Court of Cassation to schedule the appeal hearing for July 30, and have threatened to paralyse parliament in protest. The date represents a remarkably tight turnaround given Berlusconi’s lawyers only deposited the appeal paperwork on June 19. Usually it takes months to schedule a hearing in Italy’s notoriously slow justice system.