Andreotti to go on trial again

By Vaiju Naravane

PARIS, APRIL 19. Mr. Giulio Andreotti, who served as Italy's Prime Minister seven times in various post war governments and is one of that country's longest serving politicians, is to go on trial again today for ties with the Mafia.

Mr. Andreotti was acquitted of these same charges in a highly publicised four-year-long trial that ended last year. He has since bounced back into national politics, becoming a senator for life and is now being tipped as a possible Foreign Minister if the right wing media magnate, Mr. Silvio Berlusconi, wins the next legislative poll set for May 13.

Mr. Andreotti who is 82, is accused of maintaining ties with mafia super bosses. The appeal has been filed by two women prosecutors in Palermo, Sicily, Italy's mafia-dominated southern island. The case against Mr. Andreotti was launched over a decade ago on the basis of eyewitness accounts and testimony by mafia members who claimed Mr. Andreotti had met Dons and other mafia bosses.

The two women prosecutors allege that Mr. Andreotti committed perjury in denying that such meetings ever took place. His first trial has now been described as a ``misapplication and travesty of justice.''

The decision to re-try Mr. Andreotti has angered his right wing supporters. He has recently launched a new party based on Catholic values and is likely to enter into an electoral pact with Mr. Berlusconi who is tipped to win next month's legislative poll. Mr. Berlusconi himself has had several run-ins with Italian justice and has many times severely criticised Italy's independent judiciary. They have been going on a witch hunt, he claims, alleging that the judges are part of the left wing establishment and are not honest or unbiased.

Mr. Berlusconi's present situation vis-a-vis his judges is still not clear. Several cases of fraud are still pending against him. A past master of the art of communication, Mr. Berlusconi has tried to seduce potential voters by mailing them a lavishly produced hagiography of himself richly illustrated with colour photographs.

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Section  : International
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