Berlusconi Accused of Buying Off Witnesses in Sex Trial

Italy's Silvio Berlusconi, found guilty in June of paying for sex with an underage prostitute, falsified evidence and corrupted dozens of witnesses in a bid to escape jail, a court report said Thursday.

Judges discovered "persistent delinquency… consisting of the systematic falsification of evidence… and the paying off of witnesses," the court said in a sum-up of its decision to sentence the former premier to seven years behind bars and ban him from public office.

The 77-year-old playboy orchestrated the "sexual exhibition of young ladies" which turned into "so-called bunga bunga sessions in which the female guests competed to do the accused's bidding," the court said.

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