WSJ sulla giustizia Italiana

[AZ777]

ITALY'S TRIAL - The Wall Street Journal

In any other country the unrelenting torrent of investigations and prosecutions aimed at Silvio Berlusconi would suggest that he has committed some crime. In any other country, the public might draw inferences from the fact that Mr. Berlusconi's one-time private lawyer and friend, former defense minister Cesare Previti, was just sentenced to 11 years in jail for bribing judges in two takeover cases, one of which directly benefited Mr. Berlusconi's business empire. In any other country, in other words, it wouldn't occur to second-guess the judicial authorities in such matters.

But this isn't any other country, it's Italy. Sure, corruption was practically de rigueur under the postwar order that collapsed in the early 1990s, all the more so because the ambiguous laws and regulations that governed enterprises placed enormous power into the hands of bureaucrats and judges. And it may not be unreasonable to conclude from this, as many in the media have, that any businessman of Mr. Berlusconi's wealth and success must have some compromising activity buried in his walk-in closet.

We wouldn't prejudge the outcome of the current case against Mr. Berlusconi. But it would be a mistake to see Italy's judiciary as an impartial player here. On the contrary, Italy's magistrates are often more politicized than the politicians, as the tenacity of the judicial attacks on Mr. Berlusconi shows.

He has already survived several criminal cases and a dizzying number of investigations, probes and court hearings into his business dealings. There have been hundreds of police fishing expeditions (at the behest of Milan's magistrates) into his Fininvest empire. That must make Mr. Berlusconi one of the most investigated political leaders in history.

In every other case against him he has either been acquitted of all charges, had a conviction overturned on appeal or exhausted the statute of limitations. In the outstanding case, which has been running for three years, he is accused of bribing a judge nearly 20 years ago in a case concerning the sale of SME, the food company that was then part of the state-run IRI group.

At an explosive hearing Monday, Mr. Berlusconi testified that European Commission President Romano Prodi, who was then the head of IRI had, without the knowledge of IRI's directors, stitched up a sale agreement with Carlo De Benedetti. He claimed that he entered his rival bid at the personal behest of his friend then Prime Minister Bettino Craxi, who was disturbed by the low price agreed with IRI.

Ultimately SME was broken up and sold for far more than Mr. De Benedetti was offering. While Mr. De Benedetti tried to stop the sale in the courts, they rejected his appeal. Mr. Berlusconi is accused of bribing an appeals court judge.

No one, of course should be above the law, whatever the standard of conduct in Italy at the time. But whatever the outcome of this case, it's well worth pausing a moment to consider Mr. Berlusconi's accusers -- the very Milan magistrature that was involved in the kickback investigations of the early 1990s. While these investigations succeeded, thankfully, in bringing down the corrupt postwar political system in Italy, they became an obstacle to reform and the rule of law in their own right.

Italy's judiciary must indeed be the world's most autonomous and unaccountable. Prosecutors and judges, both called magistrates, belong to the same union. They are regulated by the Higher Council of Magistrates, but they themselves vote for many of the same Council members that regulate them.

Magistrates make no pretenses to political impartiality. They align themselves with one of four political factions (correnti), which help ensure promotions and plum jobs. The left-wing faction has for some time been dominant. Gridlock is enormous, leaving many cases languishing for years and magistrates free to choose which cases they wish to pursue.

The rule of law in Italy has been seriously disserved by this system. Mr. Berlusconi has launched a program of judicial reform. But because he would also obviously benefit from such reforms in defending himself, his reform efforts have been criticized as crass opportunism and of course opposed by the magistrates who have a vested interest in keeping the sweeping powers and autonomy they currently enjoy. As such, the current court battle is as much about the future of the judiciary and other constitutional reforms as it is about an allegation of bribery. Italy deserves a better system.

[brunik]

[AZ777]

Tu non commenti mai caro brunik perchè sai di essere un penoso elemento sconfitto dalla storia. Allora al posto di commentare proponi altri argomenti. E' una tecnica usata dai sovietici. Sei realmente un'elemento che fa pena. Non hai opinioni, non sai dare un giudizio, ti limiti solo a riportare altri articoli. Questo sei tu. D'altronde è sufficiente guardare la tua foto...

[Mr. Hyde]

In Origine Postato da AZ777
Tu non commenti mai caro brunik perchè sai di essere un penoso elemento sconfitto dalla storia. Allora al posto di commentare proponi altri argomenti. E' una tecnica usata dai sovietici. Sei realmente un'elemento che fa pena. Non hai opinioni, non sai dare un giudizio, ti limiti solo a riportare altri articoli. Questo sei tu. D'altronde è sufficiente guardare la tua foto...

Beh oddio Az (sta` per alitalia?), non e` che tu abbia fornito una tua analisi riguardo all`articolo either

Hyde