Berlusconi puts himself 'above the law'

The Italian left has accused Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian Prime Minister and media tycoon, of "moving towards dictatorship" by pushing through parliament a law granting himself immunity from prosecution. The Senate gave final approval on July 22 to a bill halting criminal trials against the holders of the four top offices of state–the President, the Prime Minister, and the Speakers of the Senate and Lower House–for as long as they hold a term of office. Of the four, only Berlusconi is currently being prosecuted. The new law exempts Berlusconi from a trial in Milan in which he is charged with having allegedly given David Mills, his former tax lawyer and the estranged husband of Tessa Jowell, the Olympics Minister, a $600,000 bribe to give misleading testimony in a corruption trial in the 1990s involving alleged tax fraud by Berlusconi's Mediaset empire. Both men are on trial, and both deny the charge. Antonio Di Pietro, the former anti-corruption magistrate who now leads Italy of Values, a center-left opposition party, told The Times that Berlusconi, 71, who won elections in April to lead Italy for the third time as prime minister, was using his power to pass laws to his own benefit, as he had when previously in office. "Taken with other planned measures, the law giving him immunity is a move towards dictatorship," he said. "Berlusconi is placing himself above the law. Italians have the right to know if their Prime Minister is or is not a criminal." Di Pietro contested the government's assertion that the immunity law merely brings Italy into line with the rest of Europe. "Name one other European country where the Prime Minister is above the law," he said. Anna Finocchiaro, head of the opposition Democratic Party in the Senate, said that the law made Berlusconi "a sovereign monarch without limits." Walter Veltroni, the opposition leader, said that at a time when Italy faced critical economic problems Berlusconi was "using his power to protect his own interests instead of addressing those of the country."