The court acquitted the former prime minister today Italy, Silvio Berlusconion charges of bribing a witness in the Ruby Gate scandal trial.

According to the indictment, Berlusconi allegedly paid a €157,000 bribe to singer Mariano Apicella to testify about perjury in a trial that accused the former prime minister of paid sex with a 17-year-old Moroccan dancer.

Berlusconi, leader of the right-wing Forza Italia party and government partner of Georgia Prime Minister Meloni, was eventually acquitted in the case.

Mariano Apicella was acquitted on charges of bribery, who was acquitted – due to the statute of limitations – on charges of perjury.

Apicella was a regular guest at many of Berlusconi’s infamous “bunga bunga” parties, the revelations of which sparked a scandal that helped bring down his government.

Defense lawyers have argued that Apicella has received monthly payments from Berlusconi since 2002 in the form of fees or donations unrelated to the charges before the court.

The trial in Rome was one of three interconnected cases brought before the courts of different cities by virtue of territorial jurisdiction.

In another case pending in a Milan court, Berlusconi is accused of bribing 24 witnesses, mostly young guests at his nightly parties. In May last year, prosecutors demanded that Berlusconi be sentenced to six years in prison. The former Italian prime minister denied the allegations and a verdict is not expected until January 2023.

Last year, a Siena court acquitted Berlusconi on charges of bribing another witness. The prosecutor’s office appealed the decision of the court of first instance, but no date has yet been set for the hearing of the case in the second instance.

^{Source: APE-MEB, Reuters}