貝盧斯科尼組織色情派對 與未成年女子性交易

Silvio Berlusconi was the "director" of the bunga bunga parties at his mansion and knowingly paid for sex with an under age escort in a "proven system of prostitution", judges said on Thursday

The judges' report, which details the reasons for sentencing the Italian former prime minister, to seven years in jail, comes just days before politicians are due to vote on whether to kick him out of parliament, a move expected to bring an end to his 20-year political career.

The under age escort in question, an erotic dancer nicknamed Ruby the Heart Stealer, was one of a legion of young women whom Mr Berlusconi rewarded with "enormous" amounts of money and items of jewellery in return for sex in a "proven system of prostitution", the judges from the court in Milan said in a 331-page document.

"At night the women entertained the master of the house in the hope of ample reward," the judges wrote, adding that 77-year-old Mr Berlusconi paid the dancer around 3,000 euros (£2,500) a time for at least two sexual encounters.

At the parties, women engaged in "lap dances, strip teases, dressing up (in nurse and policewomen uniforms) and mutual fondling," the court document said.

Mr Berlusconi was convicted in June of paying for sex with Ruby, whose real name is Karima El Mahroug, and abusing his office by putting pressure on police to have her released on a theft charge.

He was sentenced to seven years in prison but is appealing the verdict and remains at liberty until a definitive sentence is handed down by Italy's highest court.

The Milan court said that Mr Berlusconi orchestrated the sessions at his mansion at Arcore, outside Milan, where "female guests operated to satisfy the will of the accused".

When Miss El Mahroug was arrested by police in Milan in May 2010 on suspicion of stealing from her flatmate, Mr Berlusconi applied "heavy pressure" on police to release her without charge, fearing that the scandal would be made public.

He erroneously told police officers that the teenager was a relative of Hosni Mubarak, the then-president of Egypt, and that her detention could cause a diplomatic stand-off between Cairo and Rome.

The claim earned a withering response from an Italian magistrate involved in the case, who said: "If she's Mubarak's granddaughter then I'm Queen Nefertiti of the Nile."

The judges also accused the three-times premier of paying witnesses in the trial "huge sums of money and jewellery" to provide false testimony, with many of the young women claiming in court that the bunga bunga parties were not at all salacious and instead "elegant dinners" in which the billionaire businessman serenaded them with love songs and told jokes.

The media tycoon had attempted to "systematically contaminate" the trial, which began in 2010.

Mr Berlusconi knew "beyond any reasonable doubt" that Miss El Mahroug, who was 17 at the time of the encounters, was working as an under-age prostitute, the judges said. It is illegal for a woman to sell herself for sex in Italy under the age of 18.

Born into poverty in Morocco, she moved to Sicily with her family but ran away from home in her early teens and first met Mr Berlusconi after being approached through an intermediary.

The Senate, the upper house of parliament, is expected to vote on Wednesday on whether to expel Mr Berlusconi in connection with a separate criminal conviction for tax fraud involving his Mediaset television company.

If he is expelled, Mr Berlusconi may try to precipitate a political crisis to bring down the coalition government, which includes his conservative party.據英國《每日電訊報》11月21日報道，意大利米蘭法院21日稱，意大利前總理西爾維奧•貝盧斯科尼確實是在其宅邸辦桃色派對的“導演”，且在知情的情況下與一名未成年少女進行性交易。

米蘭法院在一份331頁的文件中解釋了判處貝盧斯科尼7年監禁的原因。

文件稱，涉案的未成年社交女郎是一名色情舞娘，綽號“偷心魯比”，是衆多與貝盧斯科尼有性交易的年輕女性之一，作爲回報，她們獲得鉅額金錢和珠寶。文件寫道：“晚上，這些女子爲豪宅的主人提供服務，以期獲得豐厚回報。”其中，77歲的貝盧斯科尼至少兩次付給舞女3000歐元（約合人民幣2.46萬元）。

今年6月，貝盧斯科尼因性交易罪和濫用職權罪獲刑，但他正就這一判決提出上述，目前他仍是自由之身，直至意大利最高法院下達最終判決。

魯比的真名是卡莉瑪•埃爾•馬羅格，她於2010年5月涉嫌偷竊室友錢財被米蘭警方逮捕。不過，貝盧斯科尼因擔心醜聞公開，對警方施以“重壓”，要求無罪釋放她，還謊稱她是時任埃及總統胡斯尼•穆巴拉克的親戚，拘捕她會引起開羅和羅馬的外交糾紛。

此外，法院還指控貝盧斯科尼在審訊過程中以“大量金錢和珠寶”賄賂證人，叫她們提供僞證。很多參加派對的女性在法庭上聲稱所謂“色情派對”不但一點都不色情，而且是“優雅的晚宴”。顯然，這位傳媒大亨試圖攪黃這場自2010年就開始的庭審。

法官稱，貝盧斯科尼“毋庸置疑”知道魯比當時只有17歲，是一名未成年妓女。在意大利不滿18歲的女性賣淫屬於非法。魯比生於摩洛哥一個貧困家庭，後與家人遷至意大利西西里島，她少年早起就離家出走，在一名中間人幫助下見到貝盧斯科尼。

11月27日，意大利參議院、上議院將投票表決是否廢除其參議員資格，如果貝盧斯科尼最終被逐出議會，那他20年的政治生涯將就此結束，屆時也將給意大利聯合政府和其所在的保守黨帶來一場政治危機。