Europe

Europe

Berlusconi blasts "prosecution campaign" in open letter

17 September 2011 18:59 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Italian Prime Minster Silvio Berlusconi denied all judicial misdoings in an open letter published on Saturday, blasting what he dubbed as "a prosecution campaign" launched against him by the opposition, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

The letter, published on center-right newspaper Il Foglio, came as the legal woes mounted after a series of new sex investigations involving dozens of starlets and prostitutes, triggering members of his own majority coalition to question his leadership.

"I do admit of having committed some errors during my political career, but the goal of some judges and media to destroy my leadership through the use of illegal instruments stands as a pure and radical crusade of injustice which must be tackled in the name of everyone’s freedom," said Berlusconi.

"I will never resign nor will I give up fighting," he stressed, pledging to move on with the government agenda and strengthen his majority coalition in the wake of the upcoming 2013 general elections.

Berlusconi condemned the exploitation by prosecutors of wire-taps recording over 100 of his conversations, dubbing it as "a technological spy game" whose ultimate objective was to weaken parliament and institutions.

Appealing to Italians, he assured that his government would serve out its full term for the sake of Italy’s future and its citizens.

Prosecutors on Friday charged eight people with providing over 30 prostitutes to attend Berlusconi’s private parties in 2008 and 2009, including two managers of his financial group Fininvest who immediately resigned.

The prime minister is currently facing four trials in Milan on charges including favoring of minor prostitution, bribery, tax evasion, influence peddling and power abuse.