Bribed Lawyer Lied to Protect Berlusconi

Silvio Berlusconi is facing calls to resign as Italy's prime minister, reports the Times of London, after an Italian court found his lawyer guilty of accepting a bribe to protect him from corruption charges. In a 400-page verdict released yesterday, the judges said that attorney David Mills—the estranged husband of a British government minister—lied under oath in two trials to "protect Berlusconi's economic interests," for which he received a $600,000 payment.

Mills was convicted in February and is serving a 4.5-year sentence, which he is appealing. Berlusconi was a co-defendant in the trial until July 2007, when he pushed a law through parliament giving the prime minister immunity from prosecution. Berlusconi denies all wrongdoing, but one opposition politician said, "Anyone who is even remotely suspected of having committed such a serious offense should step down." (More Silvio Berlusconi stories.)