Judges acquitted former premier and billionaire businessman Silvio Berlusconi of bribing witnesses to lie about his alleged "bunga bunga" sex parties at his home in Arcore near Milan and say they were innocent affairs on grounds investigations should have been carried out at an earlier stage and with due procedural guarantees, according to the explanation of the sentence released on Tuesday.
86-year-old Berlusconi was acquitted along with 28 other people, many of them women who attended the parties, by a Milan court on February 15 in the trial known as Ruby ter (Ruby third in Latin).
The case was one of several stemming from allegations Berlusconi paid for sex with teen Moroccan runaway exotic dancer Karima El Mahroug, nicknamed Ruby the Heartstealer, when she was under 18.
The Forza Italia leader was also cleared in the original case as judges ruled he could not have known she was a minor.
In the explanation published Tuesday, the judges said there were already indications that Berlusconi had paid El Mahroug large amounts of money a year before the original trial.
However, the fact that the young former Arcore guests were not placed under investigation for alleged corruption and heard as witnesses at the time had in essence nullified the charges, as they could not stand as witnesses.
Prosecutors said they would now appeal the acquittals.
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