Measure approved by cabinet on day before prime minister is due back in dock is act of revenge, say critics
Italian judges and prosecutors who make mistakes could be sued by defendants and made to pay damages under the terms of changes to the courts approved by Silvio Berlusconi's government. The cabinet approved the proposed measure the day before the prime minister was due to go back in the dock, accused of buying favourable testimony.
The draft bill provoked anger from opposition leaders and the judges' main representative body. A statement from the national magistrates' association (ANM) said: "This is a punitive reform whose overall intention is to undermine the autonomy and independence of the judiciary and upset significantly the correct balance between the arms of government."
Government officials said the proposed change would have no effect on trials that had begun by the time it became law. But critics described it as an act of revenge.
Berlusconi has for years protested that he is the victim of a campaign by politically motivated prosecutors. Anna Finocchiaro, the senate leader of Italy's biggest opposition group, the Democratic party (PD), called it an "attempt to put the prosecutors under the control of the government".
By early next month, Berlusconi will be a defendant in three trials, including one in which he is accused of paying an underage Moroccan girl, Karima el-Mahroug, for sex. He denies all wrongdoing.
The daily Il Fatto Quotidiano quoted a Moroccan registrar as saying she had been offered a bribe by two Italian-speakers to set back the girl's date of birth by two years. Berlusconi's lawyers said any such attempt would have been "pointless and risible" since other official documents would show the correct date.
Under Italian law, constitutional reforms must be approved twice by both houses of parliament.
If endorsed by a two-thirds majority in both chambers, they take effect immediately. Otherwise, they have to be submitted to a popular referendum. Berlusconi, who has a scant majority in the lower house, told a press conference: "We shall do everything to discuss these rules with the opposition."
The bill unveiled on Thursday contained only broad outlines. Berlusconi said the details would be elaborated in 10 further bills to be debated by parliament.
The reform bill says judges and prosecutors would become "directly responsible for acts committed in violation of rights in the same way as other state officials and employees". Currently, their responsibility is indirect: former defendants can sue the state, and it is the state that pays compensation if the action is successful.
The proposed reform goes on to mention specifically "the civil responsibility of [judges and prosecutors] for cases of unfair detention or other irregular limitation of personal liberty".
Other provisions of the bill may be harder for the opposition to contest. The proposed reform would create a strict division between judges and prosecutors, who currently form part of the same career structure. Critics have long argued this biases judges in favour of the prosecution.
The prosecution would also lose the right to appeal a not guilty verdict ? an important reason for the logjam in Italy's notoriously slow legal system. And parliament would acquire the power to issue guidelines to prosecutors on which cases should be given priority.
Italy is the last country in Europe in which prosecutors are obliged to open a file on any suspected offence brought to their attention.
Supporters of the present system argue it is a guarantee against political interference.
The case which reopens on Friday involves Berlusconi's alleged payment of a $600,000 (�374,000) bribe to his former adviser, the British lawyer David Mills.
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/mar/10/silvio-berlusconi-move-sue-judges
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