A court in Milan acquitted the former Italian prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, this Wednesday in the case that he was trying to clarify whether he bribed witnesses, especially women, so that they would not reveal what happened at his controversial private parties, popularly known as bunga bunga, in 2010.
The 86-year-old magnate was accused of a crime of corruption for allegedly having paid for the silence of the participants in the bunga bunga parties, 28 of whom were charged in this process for perjury and have also been acquitted.
The judge considered that "the fact does not subsist", that is to say, that the accusation against Berlusconi and about twenty women who attended those parties, among them the Moroccan Karima El Mahroug, alias Ruby, origin of the scandal, has not been proven.
"Ruby was an invention and my name is still Karima. Today a nightmare has ended. I need time to assimilate it, but I'm happy that part of the truth has finally come out," the woman told the press after hearing the verdict.
Last May, the Milanese Prosecutor's Office demanded six years in prison and the seizure of 10.8 million euros from the conservative leader.
This process is known as "Ruby Ter", alluding to Karima "Ruby Rubacuore" (heartthrob), as the press nicknamed the girl with whom the politician had sexual relations when she was a minor at his controversial parties.
From those "elegant dinners", as Berlusconi called them, a trial arose for the crimes of abuse of power and incitement to prostitution of minors in which he was sentenced to seven years and disqualified, but was finally acquitted in 2015 by the Supreme.
However, this process originated other parallel trials. The "Ruby Bis" led to the conviction of three collaborators for pimping: the former director of Informativos Emilio Defe, the representative of artists Lele Mora and the politician and actress Nicole Minetti.
The man sentenced today was baptized as the "Ruby Ter" process and sought to clarify whether Berlusconi paid those who attended his bunga bunga parties when he was prime minister, especially young women, to give false testimony, perjury, in the aforementioned trials.
The main cause, the one that concluded today, except for resources from the Prosecutor's Office, is being investigated in Milan, but the case had to be broken down due to a matter of jurisdiction in different branches in Turin, Pescara, Treviso, Monza and Siena, resulting in a trickle of sentences.
The Milan Prosecutor's Office maintained in this process that the then prime minister paid thousands of euros a month to many of the women who attended his parties at his mansion in Arcore, in northern Italy, and at his then residence in the center of Rome, Grazioni Palace.
In this Wednesday's trial, in addition to Berlusconi, 28 other defendants were acquitted, including "Ruby", Senator Maria Rosaria Rossi, journalist Carlo Rosella and the former partner of the young Moroccan Luca Risso.
Berlusconi is no longer on the political front line, especially due to his age and health problems, although he has managed to return to the Senate and his party, Forza Italia, is part of the right-wing coalition that currently governs Italy, chaired by Giorgia Meloni .
The right hand of the conservative politician, Antonio Tajani, current vice president and foreign minister, celebrated this "extremely good news."
"I had no doubts about his innocence. The Forza Italia community celebrates their leader," Tajani tweeted.
Another of his partners, the leader of the far-right League, Matteo Salvini, immediately expressed his "happiness" over Berlusconi's acquittal "after years of suffering, insults and useless controversy.
