Convicting the CIA in abstentia good enough for me.
"Italian court considers new trial for American in killing; Exchange student was convicted then acquitted" by Frances D’Emilio | Associated Press, March 26, 2013
ROME — Italy’s highest court heard six hours of arguments Monday on whether American student Amanda Knox should face a new trial in the killing of her British roommate.
With Knox waiting anxiously in Seattle to hear if her long legal battle will end, the court said it would announce a decision Tuesday on whether the 2011 acquittals of Knox and her Italian former boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito will stand.
Italian prosecutors have asked the high court to throw out the acquittals of Knox and Sollecito in the killing of 21-year-old British student Meredith Kercher and order a new trial.
The court normally issues the decisions the same day it hears arguments, but prosecutor general Luigio Riello said that ‘‘in very complex cases,’’ the court takes another day.
Lawyers for Sollecito declined to speculate on what the delay could mean. Their client was not in the courtroom Monday.
Sollecito’s father was calm about the development. ‘‘We have waited so many years, one night is not going to make a difference,’’ Francesco Sollecito said outside the courthouse.
One of Knox’s lawyers, Luciano Ghirga, said as he arrived at Italy’s Court of Cassation in Rome that Knox was monitoring the developments.
Knox, now 25, and Raffaele Sollecito, who turns 29 on Tuesday, were arrested in 2007, shortly after Kercher’s body was found in her bedroom in the apartment she shared with the American and others in Perugia, where they were exchange students. Her throat had been slashed.
Prosecutors alleged that Kercher was the victim of a drug-fueled sexual assault. Knox and Sollecito have maintained their innocence.
See: Perugia Case Makes Me Want to Puke
Knox and Sollecito were convicted and given long prison sentences: 26 years for Knox, 25 for Sollecito. But an appeals court acquitted them in 2011, criticizing virtually the entire case mounted by prosecutors. The court noted that the weapon was never found and said DNA tests were faulty.
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Related:
"Knox still planned to talk with celebrity interviewer Diane Sawyer in a prime-time special to be broadcast April 30 to promote her new book ‘‘Waiting to Be Heard,’’ according to ABC News."
Damn, I missed it!
"Italian court orders new trial for Amanda Knox; Acquittal of ex-boyfriend also overturned" by Frances D’Emilio | Associated Press, March 27, 2013
ROME — The move extended a prolonged legal battle that has become a cause celebre in the United States and raised a host of questions about how the next phase of Italian justice would play out....
It was a tough blow for the former exchange student, whose parents have had to mortgage both their homes to raise funds for her lengthy, expensive defense.
‘‘It was painful to receive the news that the Italian Supreme Court decided to send my case back for revision when the prosecution’s theory of my involvement in Meredith’s murder has been repeatedly revealed to be completely unfounded and unfair,’’ Knox said in a statement.
Prosecutors alleged that Kercher was the victim of a drug-fueled sex game gone awry. Knox and Sollecito denied wrongdoing and said they weren’t even in the apartment that night, although they acknowledged they had smoked marijuana and their memories were clouded.
An Ivory Coast man, Rudy Guede, was convicted of the Kercher slaying in a separate proceeding and is serving a 16-year sentence.
Sollecito, whose 29th birthday was Tuesday, sounded shaken when a reporter reached him by phone....
For those familiar with the US legal principle of ‘‘double jeopardy’’ — by which no one who is acquitted of a crime can be tried again for it — the idea that Italian justice system allows prosecutors to appeal acquittals is hard to absorb.
Knox attorney Dalla Vedova dismissed the ‘‘double jeopardy’’ concern, insisting the high court ruling Tuesday hadn’t decided anything about the defendants’ guilt or innocence, but merely ordered a fresh appeals trial.
Dalla Vedova said Knox wouldn’t come to Italy but would follow the case from home. He said he didn’t think the new appeals trial would begin before early 2014.
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"Knox case puts Italian justice under scrutiny" by Victor L. Simpson | Associated Press, March 28, 2013
ROME — When crooked American financier Bernie Madoff was sentenced in New York, the leading Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera published a front-page cartoon mocking Italy’s trial system.
On one side was a US courtroom, where a judge was handing down a 150-year sentence after a six-month trial. On the other, an Italian judge handing down a six-month sentence after a 150-year trial.
That was how the country’s top newspaper summed up Italy’s slow-moving, and at times inconclusive, justice system.
The decision by Italy’s highest criminal appeals court to overturn the acquittals of US student Amanda Knox and her former Italian boyfriend, and order a new trial in the 2007 slaying of her British roommate, is again raising concerns about justice in Italy.
It is a system where people cleared of serious crimes can have the threat of prison hanging over them for years, while powerful people such as Silvio Berlusconi, the former prime minister, can avoid jail sentences almost indefinitely by filing appeal after appeal until the statute of limitations runs out....
Then it really isn't that different from AmeriKan justice.
And it is not just the criminal courts that raise eyebrows.
The backlog of civil cases is so severe that it hampers desperately sought foreign investment to Italy....
Oh, now we are talking something important!
Successive governments have pledged to streamline proceedings but have failed, largely because powerful people in politics, business, and the judiciary have repeatedly fended off reform to protect their interests and the people close to them.
One criticism is Italy’s high number of lawyers. Milan, for example, has more attorneys than all of France. In civil cases, it takes an average of seven years to reach a verdict.
Defenders say that Italy’s legal system is one of the world’s most “garantista” — or protective of civil liberties.
I see nothing wrong with that.
Defendants are guaranteed three levels of trial before a conviction is definitive and both sides are granted the right to appeal, though prosecutors often do not appeal minor acquittals. The system sprang up in the postwar era to prevent the travesties of summary justice under fascist dictator Benito Mussolini, but justice can be delayed until it is denied as cases move at a snail’s pace.
Italy is also one of the leading voices in campaigns to abolish capital punishment....
I also agree with that.
For Knox, the system allowed new evidence in the appeals trial that led to her 2011 acquittal. But it also exposes her to a third trial, which in all likelihood will be followed by another round at the supreme court. Knox is not expected to attend her retrial. If she is convicted — and the conviction is upheld by highest criminal court — Italy could seek her extradition. The US law allows extradition of its citizens.
But we won't send them the CIA men?
Another key aspect of the Knox case: The Italian system does not include US Fifth Amendment protection against a defendant being put in double jeopardy by government prosecution.
“Our judicial system, like all judicial systems, is fallible,” said Stelio Mangiameli, a constitutional law specialist at Rome’s LUISS University, but added: “It’s not worse or better than the United States.”
He said that, in addition to guarantees for the defense, Italy takes pains to protect the rights of the victim.
“You need to consider when there is a crime, there is also a victim,” said Mangiameli. “In the Amanda Knox case, there is a dead girl and someone needs to respond for this death, no matter if American or French or any other nationality.”
But the process, which in some cases runs over decades, can leave people like Knox in judicial limbo.
In September, an Italian civil court ordered the government to pay 100 million euros in civil damages to relatives of 81 people killed in a 1980 air disaster whose cause has been attributed alternately to a bomb on board and to being caught in an aerial dogfight. The court held that the transport and defense ministries had concealed the truth, though a criminal court acquitted two generals for lack of evidence five years earlier.
It would seem natural that after three decades, the September decision meant the case was closed. Instead, appeals are pending.
For two decades, Berlusconi has been moving from trial to trial on charges that include corruption, tax fraud, and sex-for-hire. He has described himself as an innocent victim of prosecutors he routinely slams as communists.
The former premier has so far never had a conviction upheld by the highest court and never served any time in jail. His lawyers employ vigorous defense techniques that have included laws — one struck down as unconstitutional — blocking top government officials from prosecution. As premier, Berlusconihas enacted legislation that is widely seen as tailor-made to shield him from legal difficulties.
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UPDATE:
"Italy top court faults acquittal of Amanda Knox" Associated Press, June 19, 2013
ROME — Italy’s high court faulted the appeals court that acquitted American student Amanda Knox of murdering her roommate, saying Tuesday that its ruling was full of ‘‘deficiencies, contradictions, and illogical’’ conclusions and ordering the new appeals court to look at all the evidence to determine whether Knox helped kill the teen.
In March, the Court of Cassation overturned Knox’s acquittal in the 2007 murder of flatmate Meredith Kercher and ordered a new trial. On Tuesday, the high court issued its written reasoning for doing so.
Kercher’s body was found in November 2007 in her bedroom of the house she shared with Knox in Perugia, a central Italian town popular with foreign exchange students.
Knox, now 25, and her former boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, 29, were initially convicted and sentenced to long prison terms, but a Perugia appeals court acquitted them in 2011, criticizing virtually the entire case mounted by prosecutors.
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Related:
"Four found guilty in dorm collapse
ROME — A court in L’Aquila, Italy, convicted four people in the collapse of a university dormitory during the 2009 earthquake in that Apennine mountain town. Eight students died then. The four who were convicted Saturday are Italian technicians accused of carrying out shoddy reconstruction work in 2000 on the dormitory. Three were sentenced to four years in prison, while the fourth man received a 2½ year sentence. Four other defendants were acquitted (AP)."
"One killed, 4 hurt in Milan ax attack
ROME — An immigrant illegally living in Italy went on a rampage with a pickax in Milan at dawn Saturday, killing a passerby and wounding four others, police said. The attack, which police say was carried out by a Ghanaian immigrant with a criminal record, revived political debate over whether Italy should crack down harder on immigrants or facilitate the path to citizenship."
"Silvio Berlusconi convicted in wiretap case" by Colleen Barry | Associated Press, March 07, 2013
MILAN — A Milan court on Thursday convicted former Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi of breach of confidentiality for the illegal publication of wiretapped conversations related to a failed bank takeover in a newspaper owned by his media empire.
The court sentenced him to one year in jail, but issued no orders on the carrying out of the sentence. In Italy, it is rare for anyone to be put behind bars pending a possible appeal except in the case of very serious crimes like murder.
Berlusconi’s brother, Paolo Berlusconi, was convicted of the same charge and sentenced to two years and three months. Paolo Berlusconi is publisher of the Milan newspaper il Giornale, which published the transcript of the conversation.
Silvio Berlusconi’s defense team had accused the court of seeking a speedy verdict for political impact.
Still, the verdict does not directly affect Berlusconi’s eligibility to participate in a new government because Italy — despite several attempts to pass such legislation — has no law banning people convicted of minor crimes from parliament. His center-right coalition last week finished third in parliamentary elections that saw no clear winner. Talks on forming a new government are expected to begin March 20.
Related: Another Berlusconi Comeback
The charge relates to the 2005 publication of a wiretapped call that was part of an investigation into the Unipol financial services company’s failed bid to take over the Banca Nazionale del Lavoro. The bid was blocked by Italy’s central bank, contributing to the forced resignation of then-Bank of Italy chief Antonio Fazio.
Wiretapped conversations are widely published in Italian media, despite the risks of prosecution.
In a potentially more damaging case, a verdict is also nearing in Berlusconi’s appeals trial on a conviction of tax fraud. Prosecutors have demanded the court uphold the October conviction and four-year sentence. They also are seeking a five-year ban from public office.
Berlusconi also is on trial in Milan for allegedly paying an under-age teen for sex and lying to cover it up, with a verdict likely this month. And prosecutors in Naples are investigating him for corruption for allegedly paying an opposition lawmaker €3 million to join his party, a move that significantly weakened the previous center-left government of Romano Prodi.
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"Berlusconi convicted in wiretap case" by Colleen Barry | Associated Press, March 08, 2013
MILAN — Former Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi was convicted Thursday over the illegal publication in a newspaper owned by his media empire of wiretapped conversations related to a bank takeover attempt.
A Milan court found Berlusconi guilty of breach of confidentiality and sentenced him to one year in jail, though it did not issue an order on carrying out the sentence. In Italy, it is rare for anyone to be put behind bars pending a possible appeal except in the case of very serious crimes such as murder.
The verdict, the first of three expected for Berlusconi in the coming weeks, comes at a moment of political uncertainty after February national elections failed to elect a clear winner. Berlusconi’s center-right coalition finished second.
The conviction, however, has no bearing on Berlusconi’s eligibility to participate in discussions on forming a new government, which are expected to begin March 20....
The charge relates to the 2005 publication of a wiretapped call that was part of an investigation into the Unipol financial services company’s bid to take over the Banca Nazionale del Lavoro. The bid was later blocked by Italy’s central bank, contributing to the forced resignation of Bank of Italy chief Antonio Fazio, and led to a series of trials that saw Fazio and others convicted.
Wiretapped conversations are widely published in Italian media.
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At least they mentioned Beppe Grillo.
"Woman in Berlusconi sex trial speaks out" by Nicole Winfield and Luca Bruno | Associated Press, April 05, 2013
MILAN — The Moroccan woman at the center of former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi’s sex-for-hire trial held an unusual protest Thursday in front of Milan’s courthouse, accusing investigators of waging psychological warfare against her and manipulating her testimony during interrogations.
Karima el-Mahroug, better known as Ruby, read a tearful, six-page statement denying that she was a prostitute, insisting that she had never had sex with Berlusconi, and demanding that the court hear her side of the story.
‘‘I have nothing to be ashamed of and nothing to hide,’’ Mahroug said. She denounced what she called ‘‘psychological torture’’ directed at her by people pretending to help her and also accused the media of defaming her.
The 21-year-old admitted, however, that she had lied in the past to hide her poverty-stricken origins.
Berlusconi, 76, is accused of having paid for sex with Mahroug while she was a teenager during his infamous ‘‘bunga-bunga’’ parties at his villa near Milan, and then trying to cover it up. Both deny sexual contact.
I'm hoping they didn't do it because that is gross.
Mahroug’s protest came at a politically sensitive time for Italy, as Berlusconi’s center-right party seeks to muscle its way into a governing coalition after coming in second in inconclusive February elections. Parliament is also poised to elect a new president, a highly politicized process given that the new president will have a major role to play in calling new elections if no government can be formed among Italy’s squabbling political blocs.
Mahroug has been the most pivotal character in Berlusconi’s legal woes, a onetime nightclub dancer who left her family in Sicily as a young teen and ended up at dinner parties at the home of the prime minister as his second marriage collapsed.
The scandal broke in 2010 when it emerged that Berlusconi had intervened with police on Mahroug’s behalf after she was accused of stealing money from a friend.
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Then she would have every reason to defend him.
"Woman provides account of Berlusconi’s wild parties" by Colleen Barry | Associated Press, May 18, 2013
MILAN — Silvio Berlusconi’s private disco featured not only aspiring showgirls performing striptease acts as sexy nuns and nurses, but one woman dressed as President Obama and a prominent Milan prosecutor whom the billionaire media mogul has accused of persecuting him, according to the first public sworn testimony by the Moroccan woman at the center of the scandal.
He wants to f*** Obama? Sorry, Israel got to him first.
Karima el-Mahroug’s testimony on Friday at the trial of three former Berlusconi aides accused with procuring her and other women for prostitution confirms a sexually charged atmosphere at the “bunga bunga” parties of the then-sitting premier. The trial is separate from the one in which Berlusconi is charged with paying for sex with a minor — Mahroug when she was 17 — and trying to cover it up.
Mahroug, now 20, said she attended about a half-dozen parties, using her nickname Ruby, and that after each, Berlusconi handed her an envelope with up to $3,900. She said she later received cash from the premier paid through an intermediary — money that she told Berlusconi she wanted to use to open a beautician salon despite having no formal training.
But she denied that Berlusconi had ever given her $6.43 million. She said she told acquaintances and even her father that she was going to receive such a large sum “as a boast,” but that it was a lie to make her seem more important....
Mahroug has made carefully orchestrated statements since the scandal broke....
Dressed soberly with her hair pulled back, Mahroug said she first made contact with Berlusconi’s inner circle when she participated in a beauty contest organized by Fede in Sicily when she was 16.
After that she made her way to Milan, hoping to find work. She tried to get work through another defendant’s talent agency but did not have proper documents, and wound up landing a job as a hostess in nightclubs, earning around $130 a night.
She frequently changed accommodation during that time, staying for periods of days with people whose names she no longer recalls....
At the party, she said, she introduced herself as Ruby and told other guests a fake tale that she was Egyptian, that her mother was a famous Arab singer, and that she was related to President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt. She was 17 at the time but had passed herself off as being 23 or 24.
Mahroug confirmed Friday what other witnesses have testified previously: that at some of the soirees, young female party guests had dressed like nuns and danced for Berlusconi and then stripped to their underwear.
I don't even want to contemplate the perversion.
The parties took place in a disco in Berlusconi’s villa equipped with a lap dance pole. Mahroug told the court that there was sometimes a singer who is close to Berlusconi at the parties, but most of the guests were young women. While she went home in a taxi alone the first night, other times, she testified, she slept in a guest room by herself. Since she only had the dress she was wearing, she was given a track suit in the morning to have breakfast, and sometimes stayed for lunch, leaving in the late afternoon.
Mahroug denied ever having acted as a prostitute, and repeated her denials that she ever had sex with Berlusconi.
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Related: Breaking Berlusconi's Heart
Time to take a cruise:
"Cruise line fined after Italy disaster" Associated Press, April 11, 2013
ROME — A judge in Tuscany fined Italian cruise line Costa Crociere SpA $1.3 million Wednesday for the 2012 shipwreck of the Concordia cruise ship, which killed 32 people.
Costa had asked for a plea bargain deal to respond to the sanctions, which under Italian law are for companies whose employees commit crimes. Judge Valeria Montesarchio of the Grosseto tribunal accepted the plea after a hearing.
Costa, a division of Miami-based Carnival Corp., has sought to blame the disaster entirely on Captain Francesco Schettino, who took the cruise ship off course and rammed it into a reef off the island of Giglio on Jan. 13, 2012. The stunt left a 230-foot gash in the hull, causing the liner to take on water....
The ship remains on its side in Giglio’s port.
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Also see:
Shipping Out of Italy
Italy ship owner seeks victim status
Italian ship captain is denied plea deal
"7 dead, 2 missing after ship crashes in Italy" by NICOLE WINFIELD | Associated Press, May 09, 2013
ROME — Italian prosecutors placed the captain of the Jolly Nero cargo ship under investigation Wednesday for alleged manslaughter after his vessel slammed into the dock at Genoa’s busy port and toppled the control tower into the harbor, killing at least seven people.
As rescue teams in diving suits searched for two other missing people, officials began piecing together how the 40-ton container ship could have sideswiped the port’s control tower when weather and sea conditions were ‘‘perfect’’ on Tuesday night.
The focus was on whether human error or a technical malfunction was to blame.
The crash occurred around 11 p.m. as the Jolly Nero was backing out of Genoa’s port accompanied by two tugboats and with a harbor pilot on its bridge.
At the same time, a shift change was taking place among employees at the control tower, meaning more people were in the building than usual.
Transport Minister Maurizio Lupi told Parliament that given the ‘‘perfect’’ weather conditions, possible causes of the crash could include an engine malfunction or problems with the cables between the container ship and the tugs guiding it. He said investigators — both criminal and from his own ministry — were also looking into possible mistakes with the maneuver itself or with the speed in which the ship backed out of its berth and turned around to leave the port.
The Jolly Nero’s captain, Roberto Paoloni, and the harbor pilot on board were placed under investigation for alleged manslaughter, Genoa prosecutor Michele di Lecce told reporters. He said other accusations were possible.
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