Berlusconi probe moves to Rome
Prosecutors have two weeks to weigh talk-show 'pressure' case
25 March, 13:51
(ANSA) - Rome, March 25 - Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi
was on Wednesday placed under investigation in Rome in a probe
into his alleged pressure to stop a talk show on state
broadcaster RAI.Rome prosecutors are investigating the premier on suspicion of using threats to have purportedly hostile political talk show Annozero shut down.
Berlusconi's lawyers had themselves asked prosecutors in the southern Italian city of Trani, where the probe started, to send the relevant papers to a special court in Rome that deals with allegations against ministers.
The Rome prosecutors now have two weeks to assess the case and recommend whether to shelve it or send it on to the special court.
Berlusconi is under investigation along with a member of Italy's media watchdog Agcom, Giancarlo Innocenzi, for allegedly trying to find ways to pull Annozero off the air.
The premier has described the probe as "laughable" and said his wiretapped remarks, leaked to the press, were only a reflection of what he had been saying openly for years.
He also claimed it had been his "duty" to intervene.
Berlusconi has charged that Annozero host Michele Santoro, whom he previously blackballed for four years for alleged "criminal use of the airwaves" during the 2001 elections, was still being allowed to "unacceptably" subject people to "trial by the media". A member of the judiciary's self-governing body, the Supreme Council of Magistrates, Cosimo Ferri, is also involved after allegedly receiving a request for legal advice on ways of stopping unfavourable coverage.
Also under investigation, for allegedly telling Berlusconi about the probe, is the head of RAI's flagship news programme, Augusto Minzolini.
The premier has claimed the probe has been "timed" to hurt his People of Freedom (PdL) party's chances in regional elections in 13 of Italy's 20 regions on Sunday and Monday.
In some 15 investigations stemming from his business activity, the media magnate, Berlusconi has consistently claimed a group of allegedly left-leaning magistrates and prosecutors are conspiring against him.
Berlusconi, who has never been definitively convicted of wrongdoing, is involved in two trials in Milan.
In one, he faces charges of alleged bribing British tax lawyer David Mills to hush up incriminating evidence in two previous trials.
In the other, he is accused of alleged tax fraud in the trading of film rights by his Mediaset media group.
