Marecllo Dell'Utri, an ailing
veteran former close friend and aide of ex-premier and media
magnate Silvio Berlusconi, will complete a seven-year term for
external complicity in mafia association on Tuesday and return a
free man.
Dell'Utri, 78, has been under house detention for health
reasons since July 2018.
After a brief flight to Lebanon, he was extradited to Italy
and started serving his term in May 2014.
He has had two years off for good behaviour.
Last month Berlusconi Berlusconi used the right to remain
silent at a hearing in Palermo after being called as a witness
in a trial into alleged negotiations between the State and the
Sicilian Mafia, in which Dell'Utris is implicated.
The media billionaire and Forza Italia leader also refused to
authorize his appearance in the courtroom being filmed or
photographed.
Dell'Utri,a former Senator for Berlusconi's centre-right
Forza Italia (FI) party, is a defendant in a trial into alleged
negotiations between the State and Cosa Nostra in the early
1990s to stop a Mafia bombing campaign.
The former three-time premier and media mogul was an
"assisted witness", meaning he could remain silent but if he
chose to talk, he had to tell the truth.
Berlusconi is being investigated by Florence prosecutors in
relation to a series of Mafia bombings in 1993, it emerged in
September.
The news came out after Berlusconi's lawyers presented
documentation to a court after the media magnate was called to
testify in the State-mafia talks trial.
Two previous probes into Berlusconi and the bombings were
shelved.
The ex-premier's lawyers, Franco Coppi and Nicolo' Ghedini,
said in a statement that the fact Berlusconi was named as being
under investigation was a formality, adding they were confident
this probe would be closed too.
From May to August 1993, five car bomb attacks in Rome,
Florence and Milan killed ten people and injured dozens.
In addition to the Uffizi, the targets were two venerable
Roman churches - San Giovanni in Laterano and San Giorgio in
Velabro - and a modern art gallery in Milan.
A powerful bomb also exploded near the home of a television
talk show host, Maurizio Costanzo, a vocal Mafia opponent.
Costanzo escaped unharmed.
The previous year, 1992, Cosa Nostra bombs killed anti-mafia
prosecutors Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino.
Dell'Utri is credited with being the brains behind the
creation of FI, using his advertising savvy to recruit telegenic
and well-spoken candidates.
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