http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2486701.stm

Sunday, 17 November, 2002, 20:05 GMT
Former Italian PM convicted of murder

Andreotti: Still serves as life senator
A court in Italy has sentenced former Prime Minister
Giulio Andreotti to 24 years in prison over the 1979
murder of a journalist - overturning a previous ruling.

Andreotti, seven times Italy's prime minister, had been
cleared by a lower court three years ago.

But prosecutors successfully
argued to the appeals court
that the Mafia killed
journalist Mino Pecorelli on
Andreotti's orders, because
he was about to publish
damaging revelations about
Andreotti.

Andreotti, who is 83-years
old and a senator, has
denied the charges in both
trials, saying they were politically motivated.

Reacting to the verdict, he said in a statement: "I have
always believed in justice and I continue to believe,
even if this evening I find it difficult to accept such an
absurdity."

Shock

The BBC's David Willey in Rome says news of the
verdict fell like a bombshell in political circles in Rome.

Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi poured scorn on the
decision and on Italy's judiciary in general.

"Sentences and acquittals follow
each other frantically, beyond any
logic, in a judicial context beset by
partisanship and persistent
hatred," he was quoted as saying
by Italian television.

Members of the ruling
coalition also condemned
the ruling.

"This sentence is the
expression of a justice
system turned on its head,
walking with its head on
the ground and its feet up
in the air," said Marco
Follini, leader of the
Christian Democratic
Centre - part of Mr
Berlusconi's coalition government.

But, our correspondent adds, it is unlikely that Andreotti
will ever go to jail - because of his age and because the
verdict is open to a further appeal to Italy's supreme
court.

Andreotti served seven times as Italian prime minister
between 1972 and 1992, and was a member of
practically every Christian Democrat Italian government
between the end of World War II and his retirement
from active politics.

A series of corruption scandals in the early 1990s
brought down Andreotti's Christian Democrats, which
had dominated Italian politics since World War II.

He decided to leave politics in June 1992 and became a
senator for life.