Berlusconi sex trial halted until after election

Milan: Silvio Berlusconi’s trial on charges of paying for sex with a minor will be postponed until after this month’s election due to his campaign commitments, Italian judges ruled on Monday. [caption id=“attachment_621484” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Associated Press[/caption] The next hearing in the trial will now be held on March 4, a week after the February 24-25 elections. Milan judges upheld an argument from Berlusconi’s legal team that his political campaign constituted a legitimate impediment to his attendance. The 76-year-old media magnate and leader of the centre-right coalition, who faces separate trials for tax fraud and other offences, has had all his trials postponed until March. The so-called “Bunga Bunga” scandal, in which Berlusconi is accused of paying for sex with an underage night-club dancer, was among factors that accelerated his demise as prime minister in late 2011, at the peak of the euro zone debt crisis. Berlusconi has conducted a vigorous television campaign which has enabled him to pick up support in opinion polls but his centre-right alliance still lags the centre-left Democratic Party. Reuters