ROME—An Italian court on Thursday acquitted former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi of bribing a witness in a 2013 underage prostitution case, giving a boost to the veteran politician weeks after his return to parliament.
Berlusconi, 86, was charged with allegedly paying Italian singer Mariano Apicella 157,000 euros ($162,000) to lie in a previous trial where he was accused of paying to have sex with a 17-year-old Moroccan nightclub dancer.
Berlusconi, leader of the Forza Italia (Go Italy!) party that is backing Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s newly installed government, was eventually acquitted in that case.
He pleaded not guilty in the subsequent bribery trial and Rome prosecutor Roberto Felici told the court on Thursday that charges should be dropped….