Former Italian Prime Minister was sentenced today to seven years in prison for paying for sex with an underage prostitute and using his position to cover it up. My AP colleagues and I have been covering this all day and right now I am sitting outside Berlusconi’s Villa near Milan where all the Bunga-Bunga parties took place. Berlusconi is definitely not going to come out and talk to us, but in the meantime we are putting out a live shot of the Villa and the comings and goings.
Since I’ve written enough about this story in my earlier post The End of Italy’s Bunga Bunga Era , this post will just be a brief photographic behind the scenes essay. The photo above is one of several women protesters who held up signs outside the courthouse as the three women judges were inside deliberating.
I was inside the courtroom when the judges filed in this morning. I tried out my skills as a camerawoman using my iphone to film the lawyers and judges. It turns out I am not such a good multi-tasker after all. I was concentrating so hard on wide shots, medium shots, close-ups, cut-aways, zooming, panning, and tilting that I didn’t hear the judge say that since she had decided to allow the Italian state television to cover the verdict, no one was allowed to film anymore in the courtroom. Everyone else put their phones and cameras away and I continued to zoom and pan and tilt until a large policeman walked over and said to me, “Hey Lady, did you hear what the Judge said?”
After just a few minutes the judge adjourned the hearing and the three women retired for deliberations– it was mid-morning. I am sorry I cannot provide any photos of the chaotic scene in the courtroom because I was too busy making videos. It was a surprisingly tiny room, and all of us journalists were squashed in the back. The three women judges, in their black robes, sat in large chairs on a platform at the front and the lawyers and prosecutors were not far from me.
Before heading back outside, I stopped by the press room in the courthouse only to find out that they had the latest technology for the press.
So I went back outside to the media circus outside. There I found a small group of women protesters. One of my favorites was an elderly woman on a bike with a huge poster covering her back and front saying that Berlusconi is: “Unelectable, unbearable, unpresentable, unmentionable, and unfrequentable ( a bad translation from Italian but roughly means you can’t hang out with him). She was surrounded by cameramen and reporters who were wiling a way their time waiting for the verdict.
After seven hours of deliberations we all filed back into the courtroom to hear the verdict. I stood next to my AP wire colleague Colleen Barry as we waited to hear the sentence. The three judges solemnly filed in and read their surprising decision.
The sentence was a stunning defeat for Berlusconi with the judges choosing to go beyond the six year sentence requested by the prosecutor to a seven year prison sentence.
Outside the courthouse Berlusconi’s lawyer Niccolo’ Ghedini emerged into a crush of journalists to say that the decision was expected and they will appeal.
Following the verdict my colleague Pietro De Cristofaro and I drove to Berlusconi’s Villa San Martino in the town of Arcore on the outskirts of Milan. We found some carabinieri military police outside and a few other journalists, but Berlusconi was not coming out. It will be interesting to see what his next move will be, he is a powerful, rich man and a fighter, but today he suffered a big defeat delivered by three women in Milan.
Love the typewriters! Especially since most of them have broken keys. I know its symbolic, just not sure of what.
Hmm, good question. Let me think about the symbolism of the typewriters. Well, I guess what first comes to mind is that a huge courthouse in a major Italian city has a press room that doesn’t even have a computer or a telephone in it, just a table and a few chairs and those old typewriters and phonebooks shoved in the corner. That’s the atmosphere in which those judges were working. Interestingly, the defendant in the case, Silvio Berlusconi, owns several TV channels and has kept all his bunga-bunga party girls (I think there were 32 of them) on his payroll — 2500 euros a month, for the entire trial. I didn’t mention in the post that now those women are being investigated for false testimony because they all seemed to toe the “party” – no pun intended- line saying that the bunga-bunga events were just “elegant dinners” when they testified in court. So, on the one hand, austerity and the other hand extravagance. I do wonder though how many of those women would be happy with that 2500 euro salary if they had real job opportunities in Italy.
. . he’ll be dead and embalmed before he serves time – sorry, that should just read ‘dead’ the embalming has already been done!
You are right there Alan, Berlusconi will never serve any time. And yes, I agree he has basically embalmed himself with all his plastic surgery and hair transplants.
Lady Justice has lifted her head and her scales!!! Even if Berlusconi manages to get the sentence reduced on appeal, this day remains. And I think the judges have ended his career by this sentence. He may yet get to retire in comfort because of his wealth, but I think his public power is over. These three women judges are to be praised. And I hope they are safe from Berlusconi’s retaliation. Which he will, I think, try.
Meanwhile, what did the Pope have to say about him, these past two years? A tell-tale silence?
You raise some very interesting points Nancy. Yes, the judges were courageous and I don’t think Berlusconi will retaliate against them because he would not gain anything from it. He is already threatening to retaliate by bringing down the shaky current coalition government led by center-left prime minister Enrico Letta. Letta’s government will not survive if Berlusconi pulls out his party’s support. And Berlusconi’s party is entirely centered on his leadership– if Berlusconi says pull out, they pull out. Which brings me to your next question. Has the Vatican supported Berlusconi? Berlusconi got a lot of support from the Vatican in his early years in power because his right-hand aide was very close to the Vatican and Berlusconi toed the Vatican line on a few key issues. Berlusconi’s right hand aide just happens to be Gianni Letta, the Uncle of the current Prime Minister. When the Bunga-bunga story broke in 2013, the Vatican began to get disgusted with Berlusconi and he basically lost the church’s support. The Catholic Church’s support is essential for anyone leading Italy, so that was a big loss for Berlusconi. So, at this point, I think it is fair to say that Berlusconi no longer has the support of the church but he is still an enormously popular figure in Italy. In the past few days I have interview lots of people on the street in Italy about the verdict, and young and old, men and women — many of them have expressed their support for him saying that what he does in his own home is his private business.