ITALY: FORMER PRIME MINISTER GIULIO ANDREOTTI HEARING

Описание: (16 Feb 1995) Italian/Eng/Nat

Sicily's top anti-mafia investigators are expected tomorrow ( Friday ) to present their case in a preliminary hearing against former Italian Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti.

The Palermo hearing will decide whether seven times prime minister should stand trial on charges of membership of the Mafia.

The Palermo hearing will decide whether the seven time Prime Minister who dominated Italian politics for four decades, will be indicted on charges of aiding the mafia during his years in power.

The allegations are contained in thousands of documents that the 75 year old Andreotti has piled up on tables at his home and office as he and his lawyers sift through them.

Among them, Andreotti is accused of granting the Mafia favours in return for votes.

The favours include manipulating Supreme Court decisions to let off key Mafia figures and ordering the murder of a journalist who published a magazine highly critical of Andreotti.

Most of the charges are based on testimony of Mafia turncoats, among them the allegation that Andreotti took part in a secret meeting with the Mafia's now jailed boss, Toto Riina, in 1987.

Andreotti rejects all the charges as vicious lies, arguing that the accusations have been made mostly by Mafia turncoats under the U-S Witness Protection Programme.

In an interview with APTV he said prosecutors should not rely on testimony of turncoats who admit to multiple murders and are known liars.

He suggested the accusations of Mafia informants could be a part of a plot organised by the American Mafia to punish him for his efforts to combat organised crime while in office.

SOUNDBITE: (Italian)
Certainly when I see that some of these turncoats, in particular two that live in America, are among those who began this campaign, (one of Mannoia said he saw me in a meeting that never existed), then I must legitimately think that there must be a prompter who told them all this. I don't know if they started the whole story or if they entered this campaign later. It is a very complex story but certainly there must be someone who is pulling the strings.
SUPER CAPTION: Giulio Andreotti, Former Italian Prime Minister.

But Mafia experts argue that it is hard for former Prime Minister Andreotti to deny ties with the Mafia.

Claire Sterling has written several books on the Mafia.

SOUNDBITE:
In all the governments from the beginning of the post war republic until just a couple of years ago there were always two cabinet ministers from Sicily and they were practically always there to serve as a kind of liaison formally or informally with the Mafia forces. The Mafia held the swing vote, it still holds the swing vote in Sicily.
SUPER CAPTION: Claire Sterling, Mafia expert.

The case has crucial links to the United States.

Throughout his years in power Andreotti maintained close relations with the U-S and was personally friendly with several American presidents.

Throughout the 1980's investigators, including current F-B-I director, Louis Freeh, co-operated closely with Italian judge, Giovanni Falcone, Italy's most famous anti-Mafia investigator, to combat the Sicilian and American Mafia.

Judge Falcone died in a car bomb attack on the outskirts of Palermo.

Despite the gravity of the charges, the 75 year old Andreotti is in fighting form.

While defending himself vigorously, he says he's afraid for the safety of himself and his family, arguing that they could be targets of mafia attacks.

But he says he is not afraid to stand trial.
SOUNDBITE:
SUPER CAPTION:

If the case gets to court it could drag on for years.


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