Ex-Italian PM Berlusconi is now "victim of women"

ROME Silvio Berlusconi has called three judges "communists and feminists" for ordering him to pay his ex-wife EUR 200,000 for each day of their marriage. Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera reported in late December that Berlusconi must pay his ex-wife Veronica Lario, with whom he had been married since 1990, 100,000 euros a day. Ex-Italian PM Berlusconi is now "victim of women" However, a panel of female judges in Milan now increased that figure to 200,000 a day. "I have been ordered to pay EUR 200,000 for each day, and that says a lot about the Milan judges. It's about three women judges, feminists and communists. These are the judges who have been persecuting me since 1994," asserted the former Italian prime minister. According to him, the figure comes to EUR 36 million a year, with another EUR 72 million in arrears. This is the first time that Berlusconi has publicly commented on the divorce agreement, and it is not clear whether the figure includes retroactive payments since the divorce, which would amount to a much higher sum than the one reported by the daily. The former prime minister will fight for his "fifth mandate in politics" in the parliamentary elections scheduled for late February. Veronica Lario filed for divorce from the 76-year old billionaire in 2009, accusing him of having an affair with a 17-year-old girl. Berlusconi said he had appealed the decision of the judges, but that he could settle with his ex-wife, describing their current relations as "excellent". He is currently on trial on charges that he paid for sex with an underage Moroccan and then used his office to cover that up. Both he and the girl have rejected the accusations as false. Berlusconi is among the richest men in Italy, and by far the richest politician in the country. In a joint statement Wednesday the president of the Milan tribunal and the head of the appeals court “strongly rejected any insinuation of partiality” of the tribunal’s judges, whom they described as “diligent professionals", the AP reported. Silvio Berlusconi (AP) Beta Tanjug

Ex-Italian PM Berlusconi is now "victim of women"

However, a panel of female judges in Milan now increased that figure to 200,000 a day.

"I have been ordered to pay EUR 200,000 for each day, and that says a lot about the Milan judges. It's about three women judges, feminists and communists. These are the judges who have been persecuting me since 1994," asserted the former Italian prime minister.

According to him, the figure comes to EUR 36 million a year, with another EUR 72 million in arrears.

This is the first time that Berlusconi has publicly commented on the divorce agreement, and it is not clear whether the figure includes retroactive payments since the divorce, which would amount to a much higher sum than the one reported by the daily.

The former prime minister will fight for his "fifth mandate in politics" in the parliamentary elections scheduled for late February.

Veronica Lario filed for divorce from the 76-year old billionaire in 2009, accusing him of having an affair with a 17-year-old girl.

Berlusconi said he had appealed the decision of the judges, but that he could settle with his ex-wife, describing their current relations as "excellent".

He is currently on trial on charges that he paid for sex with an underage Moroccan and then used his office to cover that up. Both he and the girl have rejected the accusations as false.

Berlusconi is among the richest men in Italy, and by far the richest politician in the country.

In a joint statement Wednesday the president of the Milan tribunal and the head of the appeals court “strongly rejected any insinuation of partiality” of the tribunal’s judges, whom they described as “diligent professionals", the AP reported.