Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, set to go on trial soon, on Tuesday won backing for a radical justice reform just as his government was shaken by an arrest warrant for a senior aide on charges of Mafia collusion. Lower house speaker Gianfranco Fini said after meeting the prime minister that a draft law putting time limits on trials - one of Berlusconi's key demands in his fight against judges he says are biased against him - would be presented soon.
Berlusconi has demanded that his allies commit themselves to protecting him from what he calls an onslaught by "communist" magistrates and judges. Fini said the draft law would impose a six year limit on the three stages of court cases - initial trial, first appeal, and final appeal. Trials in Italy can last for more than a decade. Fini gave few details but it appeared the law could apply to some of Berlusconi's trials, depending on when it comes into effect and its retroactivity.
Senator Anna Finocchiaro of the opposition Democratic Party said she was waiting to see the details of the new law, which Fini said could be ready in a matter of days. Berlusconi has been in a combative mode since Italy's top court last month ruled his immunity from prosecution while in office was unconstitutional. It overturned a law passed by his government which critics said was tailor-made to protect him. While Italians want a reform of their inefficient judicial system, the opposition says Berlusconi's real aim is to regain his own immunity and be shielded from upcoming trials.
News that there was support for the new law came a day after the centre-right government had another brush with the courts. Magistrates in Naples issued an arrest warrant late on Monday for Nicola Cosentino, parliamentarian and under-secretary to Economy Minister Giulio Tremonti.
Cosentino, the leader of Berlusconi's party for the Campania region around Naples, was slated to be a candidate for governor in next year's regional elections. He has denied the accusations in a statement issued by the local party. Il Giornale, the newspaper owned by the Berlusconi family, called the Cosentino arrest warrant "an attack by magistrates". A native of the Naples area, Cosentino is accused of links with the infamous Casalese clan of the Camorra, the Neapolitan version of the Sicilian Mafia, the sources said.