Ruby Ter trial, omnipotent magistrates: now will they make another one? “I’m the prostitute, give me my life back”

Today there was a new hearing in the Ruby ter trial, but I think there have been more than three trials, there have been a lot of them. A very special situation, all Italian. You know that in the rest of the world, in theory also in Italy, you can try a person for a certain fact once. In Italy in some cases many can be done, you know what the Ruby case is. Berlusconi was accused of having had sexual relations with Ruby (at the registry office Karima El Mahroug), a young Moroccan who was a minor at the time of the facts (he was 17 and a half years old) and therefore the crime attributed to him was that of child prostitution. We are talking about 12 years ago. There have been many trials, of all kinds, and after 12 years they are still ongoing.

The most important process is the first one, the one that should have been the only one, on which i newspapers they have made titles, counter-titles, full pages. Berlusconi’s prestige was partly demolished by that affair. The Milan prosecutor asked 7 years in prison in the first instance then on appeal and in the Supreme Court he was acquitted. But in theory, if the Prime Minister was convicted, he would end up in prison. It would have been the first case since the fascism.

Then the story continued because the prosecutor was never happy, he lost the processes but made others. There is this power in Italy to make processes infinite. Ruby’s lawyers spoke and she was also present in the courtroom and confirmed the usual thesis that is Ruby has never had sexual relations with Berlusconi. There is hardly any sexless prostitution, unless you give a ideal value for prostitution. There are also many journalists who prostitute themselves in certain interests but cannot be tried for it.

So there was never anything, just a lot of processes that cost a lot of moneywhich have occupied many pages of the newspapers, which have changed the history of Italy, which have given great power to the prosecutors, to the Milan prosecutor in particular, and who have shown the extent to which the arrogance and cynicism of a part of the judiciary can go. Ruby spoke up and said, “You’ve been printing me for 12 years this scarlet letter on him, I’m the prostitute, give me my life back“. Who knows if they will stop now, if they will be satisfied with this process or if they will want to do others.

The best is if you could put in some reasonableness to that piece of the Italian judiciary that thinks it is omnipotent and probably is.

Professional journalist since 1979, he worked for almost 30 years at the Unit of which he was deputy director and then co-director. Director of Liberation from 2004 to 2009, then of Calabria Now from 2010 to 2013, in 2016 he moved to Il Dubbio and then landed in the direction of Il Riformista returned to newsstands on 29 October 2019.

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Piero Sansonetti