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Charles Young: Second edition out in April 2011
One
of my motives in publishing in this way was to be able to keep the book
topical. Over the year since the first edition, the number of
indictments against Silvio Berlusconi has grown, and now includes
juvenile prostitution and abuse of office in seeking to keep the girl
in question out of police hands. In addition, his defence of
"legitimate impediment" for avoiding his court cases has been
dismantled, so that several outstanding cases - the Mills affair, two
cases of tax fraud and misappropriation of funds - are now coming to
trial.
At the same time, the appeal by Marcello Dell'Utri - a
long-time colleague and the founder of the party that brought
Berlusconi to power - against his conviction for aiding and abetting
the Mafia has ended with a sentence reduced to seven years from nine,
and the finding that there is insufficient evidence of collusion after
the early 1990s. The reasoning behind this sentence - a 641-page
document issued by judges in November 2010 - has made it possible to be
more specific about the extent of Berlusconi's payments to the Mafia.
An English translation of this sentence will shortly be available
at this website.
In addition the assessment of economic
performance under Berlusconi has been updated, as have all other parts
of the book. The story remains incomplete, but the importance of the
issues has never been greater. |
