Premier asked businessmen to boycott advertising, it claims
(ANSA) - Milan, June 24 - Italy's Espresso editorial group
said Wednesday it would begin legal proceedings against
Premier Silvio Berlusconi, claiming he had urged
businesspeople to boycott advertising in certain newspapers.
The Espresso group, which owns the left-leaning
newspaper La Repubblica and the weekly L'Espresso, said it
had decided to sue given the ''criminal and civil relevance''
of Berlusconi's remarks, adding that the premier had accused
La Repubblica of a ''subversive attack'' against him.
The premier was addressing a conference of young
members of employers' group Confindustria on June 13 when he
said he was the victim of the alleged plot following media
coverage of a string of scandals including his relationship
with 18-year-old aspiring model Noemi Letizia.
He invited the entrepreneurs ''not to give publicity''
to those that ''every day sing songs of pessimism''.
Berlusconi explained later that he was talking about the
centre-left opposition leader Dario Franceschini and those
who supported his ''defeatist attitude''.
Berlusconi on Wednesday repeated that he was in the
grips of a ''campaign, fed by hatred and personal jealousy,
that certainly isn't doing any good for the country''.
Every day since the middle of May, La Repubblica has
been printing a list of ten questions it wants the premier to
answer about his relationship with Letizia.
Berlusconi has been at the centre of the media storm
since a public divorce spat with his wife Veronica Lario, who
accused him of ''consorting with minors'' after he attended
Letizia's 18th birthday party.
Berlusconi, 72, has categorically denied any ''steamy or
more than steamy'' involvement with teenagers, explaining
there was nothing ''spicy'' about his attendance at the
birthday party of 18-year-old Letizia because he had a long
friendship with her family.
The premier's attack on the press on June 13 came
shortly before a new uproar over allegations that female
escorts were paid to attend parties at his homes in Rome and
Sardinia.
Italy's leading newspaper, Corriere della Sera, got the
scoop on the claims last week.
Berlusconi has dismissed the allegations as ''rubbish''.
(ANSA) - Milan, June 24 - Italy's Espresso editorial group
said Wednesday it would begin legal proceedings against
Premier Silvio Berlusconi, claiming he had urged
businesspeople to boycott advertising in certain newspapers.
