Wednesday 26 June 2013

BERLUSCONI SUPPORTERS STAGE WAR; We are all whores

Silvio Berlusconi was convicted of sex
with an underaged prostitute on
Monday, and while many Italians
celebrated the news, some of his most
fervent supporters are not taking the
decision lying down -- or are they?

The Guardian reports that following
the announcement of the former
prime minister's seven-year prison
sentence and lifetime ban from public
office, a group of pro-Berlusconi
demonstrators rallied in central Rome
on Tuesday under the banner, "Siamo
tutti puttane," or "We are all whores."

According to Italian news agency AKI,
the protesters were led by Giuliano
Ferrara, editor of conservative
newspaper Il Foglio, who denounced
what he perceives as the "puritanical
injustice" of the courts.
"This is a shameful sentence that hurts
Italian justice and lowers it to the level
of that in Afghanistan or Iran," Ferrara
wrote in a front-page editorial in Il
Foglio, according to a translation by
AKI.

The
spectacle included Ferrara applying
lipstick on stage, presumably to
demonstrate his whoredom, and the
on-the-nose song choice of the Rolling
Stone classic, Ruby Tuesday -- a nod to
Karima el-Mahroug, the woman at the
center of the controversy.
In recent months, some of Berlusconi's
supporters have dismissed the
prostitution and coverup case as
merely part of an agenda by his left-
leaning political opponents. Last
month, thousands turned out to an
"Everyone for Silvio" rally in which
Berlusconi condemned the "politicized
magistrates blinded by prejudice and
hatred," the Associated Press reported
at the time.

Berlusconi's critics, however, don't
need to look too far for additional
ammunition against the disgraced
politician. Since entering public office
in 1994, Berlusconi has been sentenced
to 18 years in prison as a result of
different trials, and is currently
embroiled in five additional cases
pending judicial review.

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