Judges consider Berlusconi ruling

Prosecutors have urged judges to impose an eight-year jail sentence

Judges hearing the four-year corruption trial against Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi have retired to consider their verdict.

Mr Berlusconi is accused of having bribed judges to win favourable rulings for his business empire in the 1980s.

The prosecution has called for an eight-year prison sentence, but a decision is not expected until Friday.

Mr Berlusconi, Italy's first serving prime minister to be tried in a criminal court, denies the charges.

He says he is the victim of a politically-motivated judicial witch-hunt and will not resign, whatever the verdict.

Summing up his defence, one of Mr Berlusconi's lawyers warned handing down a guilty verdict would irrevocably tarnish the country's name.

Mr Berlusconi, who has only attended court three times during the four-year legal process, does not face an immediate risk of jail as, under Italian law, two appeals are allowed before a sentence must be served.

The trial was suspended last summer after parliament passed a controversial law giving Mr Berlusconi immunity from prosecution.

The constitutional court later overturned the ruling.