Berlusconi challenges judges in bribery case

Former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi demanded Saturday the judges in his bribery trial be stood down, after prosecutors called for a five-year jail term. Berlusconi's lawyers told the court of appeal the judges had shown no interest in the truth, spurned witnesses and rushed through the trial. Attorney general Laura Bertole denied the accusations and called for the challenge to be rejected. The appeal court will hand down its ruling on Thursday, two days before the trial in Milan is to wind up with defense submissions followed by the verdict. Berlusconi, 75, is accused of paying his former tax lawyer David Mills $600,000 (450,000 euros) to provide false testimony in another case in the 1990s. Last Thursday he launched a public attack on the country's judges, accusing them of being out to "destroy" him, the day after the prosecution demand in the Mills case. "It's judicial persecution, an endless attempt to smear me, which has turned the court into a special court which aims to take Berlusconi out of politics and destroy him as a person," the media magnate told Channel 5 television. "Only the prosecutors' witnesses were admitted, those of the defense were chucked out... Can there be worse justice than this?" Berlusconi said. "I am treated like a criminal," he complained, slamming a national justice system which he has repeatedly accused of being left-wing and in urgent need of reform. Berlusconi, who remained a member of parliament after stepping down in November, is a defendant in four ongoing trials for bribery, tax fraud, sex with an underage prostitute and abuse of power, and violating official secrets. And on Thursday prosecutors requested that he be tried for another case of tax fraud centering on film distribution rights and television stations owned by his family. In his most high-profile case, he risks 12 years in prison for having paid for sex with a young Moroccan dancer known as Ruby and abused his position to protect her after she was taken into custody for alleged theft. "That trial should not even begin, because Ruby herself has always denied the things I am accused of," Berlusconi said. "Milan's prosecutors have demonstrated their persistence against me in every possible way, but I will defend myself," he added.