Three interesting cases, currently in the courts, illustrate how a criminal prosecution can bring down even the richest and most famous. But are these guys guilty or are the prosecutions really weapons of powerful opponents to bring down people they believe pose threats to their own entrenched power?
1. From AOL: MILAN -- An Italian judge on Tuesday ordered Premier Silvio Berlusconi to stand trial on charges he paid for sex with a 17-year-old Moroccan girl, then tried to cover it up.
Berlusconi has stood trial on a number of business-related charges, but this is the first time the 74-year-old billionaire businessman is being tried for personal conduct. Berlusconi has denied wrongdoing, accusing the prosecutors of seeking to oust him from power.
Reportedly, Berlusconi claims he was only trying to help out a young girl in need. He has even added that he thought she was the grand-daughter of a fellow ruler. Reports the BBC,"He said he was doing a favour for the then-Egyptian leader, Hosni Mubarak, because Mr Berlusconi was told the girl was Mr Mubarak's granddaughter."
Well, maybe it's true that no good deed goes unpunished.
2.Julian Assange:Black Star News comments, "With Wikileaks founder Julian Assange’s extradition case in England ending; is the Swedish extradition request a ruse intended, ultimately, to send Assange to the United States?
Last week, Assange’s extradition hearing, at Belmarsh Magistrates’ Court, in south-east London, came to a close. The court’s ruling is scheduled for February 24. Sweden has requested the extradition of Assange, allegedly, for sex crimes against two women.
"The curious timing of those charges, coming in August 2010, after Wikileaks’ July 2010 publication of the explosive Afghan War Diaries, raised suspicious eyebrows worldwide. The Afghan War Diaries are a collection of military logs that paint a more insightful picture of the war—complete with entries about the massacre of civilians, while highlighting the true strength of
the Taliban."
3. Last, but hardly least,there is the downfall of the Russian oil billionaire who dared covet Putin's place of power. Reports the LA Times today, "Reporting from Moscow —The Russian judge who found former oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky
guilty of embezzlement in late December read a verdict written by superiors after they had rejected his own version, an aide disclosed Monday.
"Moscow City Court officials did not approve of the wording in the initial verdict drafted by Judge Viktor Danilkin, who presided over the case, and gave him a different version to read in court, Natalia Vasilyeva, a spokeswoman for Moscow Khamovnichesky Court, said in an interview with Vedomosti, a business daily."
Since the rich and famous are so often able to avoid the not-so-long arm of the law, we may be forgiven our skepticism, if we wonder how it happens that these three guys are on the bull's eye of the prosecution target. One might be reminded of the Clinton impeachment trial. How did Kenneth Star and his merry band of inquisitors get so far? The answer of course is that the Republican Party saw political advantage in wounding the Democratic president. Never mind that it made the US a global laughing stock... impeachment of a president for having received a little oral sex, for pity's sake!
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