Berlusconi files newspaper lawsuits

Plagued by media reports over his relationships with prostitutes and teenagers, Silvio Berlusconi, Italy's prime minister, yesterday sought to silence his critics with a raft of lawsuits against at least three newspapers in Italy, France and Spain. The media tycoon's lawyer and member of parliament, Niccolo Ghedini, revealed yesterday that lawsuits had been filed abroad against Nouvel Observateur, a French weekly, for an article headlined Sex, Power and Lies, and against Spain's El Pais for publishing pictures of guests, some naked, at the prime minister's private villa in Sardinia. Lawyers were also looking at suing in London. Mr Berlusconi has lashed out at Rupert Murdoch, his media rival, over articles probing his private life. Suing for defamation in the UK would be a first for Mr Berlusconi. Mr Berlusconi's private life hit the front pages in early May when his actress wife, Veronica Lario, accused him of "frequenting minors" and asked for a divorce. The prime minister has denied anything untoward in his relationship with an 18-year-old from Naples, but was then hit by revelations of parties with prostitutes hired by a businessman under investigation for corruption. The prime minister is exempt from prosecution in general under an immunity law. The main thorn in the side of the 72-year-old premier has been La Repubblica, Italy's biggest centre-left daily that revealed that it was being sued.

Yesterday's counter-offensive against the media appeared to backfireon another front as Mr Berlusconi's efforts to reconcile with influential Roman Catholic bishops foundered. Outraged bishops cancelled a reconciliation dinner between Mr Berlusconi and Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, number two in the Vatican. His clerical hosts were responding to an article published by a Berlusconi newspaper which accused the editor of the bishops' own publication of being a homosexual involved in a court case for allegedly threatening the wife of his lover.

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