Berlusconi now wants to reform Italian courts to protect himself from 'manhunt'
17 Oct 2009, 1344 Hrs

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London, Oct. 16 Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has vowed to reform the country's legal system in order to stop a 'manhunt' being waged against him and his media empire.

"I'm in favour of a reform of the constitution which takes the bull by the horns and makes our country into a true democracy, not one subjected to the power of a profession that has no electoral legitimacy," The Telegraph quoted him, as saying.

Berlusconi's statement has come in the wake of Italy's highest court overturning a controversial law, which had given him protection from being prosecuted while in office.

"Practically speaking, the court has said to the 'red' magistrates of Milan - reopen the manhunt against the prime minister," he said.

The court's ruling came just days after another court ordered his holding company, Fininvest, to pay 682 million pounds in damages to a business rival.ccording to him, Italian courts are in league with the opposition and Left-wing newspapers in a conspiracy to topple him from power.

Now, Berlusconi wants to change the current system under which investigating magistrates can become presiding judges, a move for which he would even call a referendum so that Italians could vote on the issue.

Recently, his eldest daughter Marina, 43, had claimed that her father's enemies had waged a "manhunt" against him for years.

The opposition has blamed Berlusconi for repeatedly attacking the judiciary for his personal gains and ignoring problems faced by Italians.

"He's so busy defending himself from, and attacking those who don't agree with him, that he forgets the problems of ordinary Italians," opposition MP Marina Sereni said.

Anna Finocchiaro, from the left-leaning Democratic Party, said: "The truth is that Berlusconi, with his threats and his populism, wants to change Italian justice in order to solve his personal problems, not to protect the country's wider interests." (ANI)

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