The plot seems almost too bizarre to be true. Two years after his election, Italy’s centre right prime minister Silvio Berlusconi and the country’s magistrates – who act as both judges and public prosecutors – appear to be doing their level best to destroy one another’s credibility through mutual accusations of corruption. The judiciary, says Berlusconi, is at the centre of a leftist plot to force him from power. Berlusconi, says the judiciary, is abusing his power to avoid prosecution for criminal offences committed prior to his election.
Matters came to a head last year, when the Government openly declared its intention of rooting out political bias on the benches. The magistrates retaliated by calling in United Nations Special Rapporteur, Param Curamaswamy, to investigate allegations that the Italian Government was attempting to undermine their independence.
