Berlusconi to attend trial hearings
Mediaset boss accused of tax evasion
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The trial, in which the Prime Minister is accused of tax fraud, is due to start on Nov. 16. It is the first of several retrials he faces, following the Constitutional Court's decision last month to strip him of his immunity to prosecution.
Prosecutors allege that in the late 1990s and the early part of this decade, Mediaset, with the Prime Minister's help, pretended to have paid more than it actually did for film rights, in order to cut its corporate tax bill.
Although announcing Berlusconi's intention to attend the entire trial, his lawyers said hearings would have to be scheduled to allow the Prime Minister to fulfill his official duties.
The conservative Prime Minister denies any wrong-doing, and last week even rang a live TV debate on pubcaster RAI, to rail against the "communist" judges and magistrates of Milan, whom he said were out to get him.
At the weekend, Berlusconi told journalists he would not quit his post of Prime Minister even if he were convicted. Italian law's lengthy appeals procedure would make that feasible.
