(ANSA) - Bari, July 11 - Prosecutors in the southern city of Bari want Silvio Berlusconi indicted for inducement to perjury, judicial sources said Friday.
The State alleges Berlusconi used former Avanti newspaper editor Valter Lavitola to pressure businessman Gianpaolo Tarantini into lying to officials about bringing call girls to the ex-premier's home in 2008 and 2009, when Berlusconi was serving as head of government.
Prosecutors claim Lavitola did Berlusconi the favor after the then-permier handed over some 500,000 euros.
Tarantini has always maintained Berlusconi was unaware his female guests were actually working girls, but Bari prosecutors think otherwise.
Tarantini, his wife and two collaborators were subsequently charged with attempting to extort money from Berlusconi in exchange for their continued silence on the call girls.
The preliminary hearing phase of the so-called Tarantini escort trial begins November 14.
Also on Friday, prosecutors asked a Milan appeals court to uphold a seven-year prison sentence against Berlusconi for having sex with a teenage hooker named Ruby.
The former premier is appealing his conviction last year on charges of abuse of power and prostituting a minor.
The prosecutor said there is "no reason" to reduce Berlusconi's sentence due to the nature of the crime, because of the overall behavior of the defendant, and because he already has a record due to his tax-fraud conviction in relation to his Mediaset business empire.
"It's undeniably a stiff sentence, but it's the right sentence," the prosecutor told the court.
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