Italian lower house votes to cut Berlusconi trial

Italy's lower house of parliament voted to cut the length of some criminal trials, approving a measure that is likely to end Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's trial for bribing his lawyer David Mills.

Amid boos and cries from the opposition benches, the lower house voted by 314 to 296 to pass the bill, which cuts the length of trials for defendants who do not have prior convictions.

The measure would cut eight months from the Mills trial, one of a series of cases facing Berlusconi, effectively bringing it to an end in the summer rather than the start of 2012.

Berlusconi is accused of paying British lawyer David Mills a $600,000 bribe to give false testimony about his business dealings. He denies the charge but a verdict is now unlikely before the statute of limitations ends the trial.

Opponents have protested outside parliament for several days and the debate inside the building has often been heated, with the centre-left opposition deploying every available parliamentary tactic to delay the result.

"We want to reiterate that it's not just laws but also the principles of the constitution that the government is trampling on," said Dario Franceschini, lower house leader of the largest opposition party, the Democrats of the Left.

The measure forms part of a broader programme launched by Justice Minister Angelino Alfano, presented by the government as a reform of Italy's dysfunctional justice system but viewed by critics as a plan to keep Berlusconi out of jail.

Alfano, a 40-year-old Sicilian often cast as Berlusconi's political heir, has denied that his reform of Italy's notoriously snail-paced justice system is aimed at getting Berlusconi off the hook.

But the timing of the legislation coincides with the launch of several cases against the prime minister, including a trial in which he is accused of paying for sex with a teenaged Moroccan dancer.

The trials were previously suspended by a measure passed by his government which allowed him to claim that his official duties meant he did not have enough time to prepare his defence and could therefore claim immunity from trial while in office.

The constitutional court ruled against that measure in January, prompting magistrates to re-open fraud and bribery trials and bring the prostitution case to court.

On Monday, Berlusconi launched a bitter attack against the magistrates as he emerged from a hearing in a tax fraud trial, saying he was the victim of an attempt by leftist enemies to eliminate him from the political scene.

Following approval in the lower house, the measure will go to the Senate, where Berlusconi's centre-right government has a majority, for final approval.