Berlusconi says he is victim of prosecutors' espionage
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Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi said on Saturday that he was victim of the espionage of Milan prosecutors and therefore he will not resign.
Speaking on the telephone at a conference organized in Milan by his ruling People of Freedom (PdL) party, Berlusconi claimed investigations that seem to indicate his links with Moroccan-born club dancer "Ruby" were not the result of a story of crime, but were opened by prosecutors in order to build a story of crime.
"Is it normal in a democracy that the prime minister is the object of such an espionage?" said Berlusconi according to local newspaper Corriere della Sera. "However we will not bend and will respond to the aggression," he added.
The prime minister said that his party is determined to achieve the reform of the judiciary system that is becoming more and more necessary considering what is happening in Italy in recent times.
The reform, Berlusconi stressed, has not been carried out yet due to the unfair opposition of his former allies Gianfranco Fini and Pier Ferdinando Casini.
"From 2008 to 2010 Fini has rejected all attempts to reform the judiciary system, starting from the wiretapping law. Then he formed Future and Freedom for Italy party in order to divide the government, but his subversive plan has failed, and soon after court operations have begun," Berlusconi said.
In the past days, Berlusconi claimed he never had sexual relations with the girl, who was 16 or 17 when she first met him, but wiretap transcriptions widely published by Italian newspapers shed light on an alleged world of prostitution involving minors, blackmail and payoffs.
Prosecutors had asked Berlusconi to meet them for questioning on Saturday, Sunday or Monday, but his lawyers sent the prosecuting team in Milan a statement on Friday, saying the premier would not meet them on the grounds that they do not have jurisdiction over the case.
