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Italy's Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi during the taping of the television program Porta a Porta - Source: Reuters -
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Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi gave a foretaste of how he may defend himself when he goes back on trial for corruption next month, attacking the judicial system as overrun by "communists" out to destroy him.
"The real Italian anomaly is not Silvio Berlusconi but communist prosecutors and communist judges in Milan who have attacked him again and again since he entered politics and decided to attack the power of the communists," an angry Berlusconi said on television.
The comment in a telephone call to the show from his home, was his first public reaction to a ruling by a Milan court hours earlier which upheld a conviction against British lawyer David Mills for accepting a bribe from Berlusconi in 1997.
Mills is appealing that verdict, which one of Berlusconi's lawyers called "diabolical", to Italy's highest court. Berlusconi will be tried separately in that case.
"Is Silvio Berlusconi really the most criminal businessman in the history of the world," said Berlusconi, who has long accused Italy's magistrature of being politically biased.
He also branded the television show he called from his sickbed - political sources say he is suffering from scarlet fever - "a festival of slander and falsehoods financed by the taxpayer".
Berlusconi has been in high combative gear since Italy's top court this month ruled his temporary protection from prosecution while he holds office, until then guaranteed by a law passed by his government, violated the constitution.
Returns to the dock next month
That ruling meant a number of corruption trials against the 73-year-old prime minister that had been suspended by the law - which critics denounced as tailor made for his judicial woes - will either resume where they left off or start again.
One trial, which involved the acquisition of TV rights by Mediaset, his television empire, is due to resume on November 16.
Prosecutors say Mediaset bought the rights at an inflated price in the 1990s from two offshore companies controlled by Berlusconi, who is accused of tax fraud and false accounting in that case.
Berlusconi, a billionaire who entered politics in 1993 and his now heading his third government, has said he will attend the trials - which he does not have to do under Italian law - and help his lawyers in his own defence.
Under Italian law a defendant is allowed to make so-called "spontaneous declarations" and several times in his appearances at past trials Berlusconi made long, combative speeches on live television.
Berlusconi'sjudicial woes, on the heels of a spate of sexual scandals, coincide with signs his popularity may be slipping.
A poll on Sunday in the Corriere della Sera newspaper showed the approval rating for his government has fallen steadily in recent months to 44% compared to 54% at the start of the year.
But Berlusconi, in his call to the television show, contested these figures, saying his own polls show the government still has a 54% approval rating that his own personal popularity rating among Italians is 68%.
The business tycoon says he has spent 200 million euros in legal fees since he entered politics.
