Ex-Italy Premier Is Ordered To Stand Trial

ROME — A former Italian prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, and British lawyer David Mills have been ordered to stand trial next year over corruption allegations related to Mr. Berlusconi's Mediaset SpA, the ex-premier's lawyer said.

Milan Judge Fabio Paparella yesterday indicted Messrs. Berlusconi and Mills, Berlusconi lawyer Niccolo Ghedini said in a telephone interview. The trial is scheduled to start March 13, he said.

"I'm confident that Silvio Berlusconi will be absolved," Mr. Ghedini said. "All the trials in Milan have ended in Berlusconi's favor."

Milan prosecutors Fabio De Pasquale and Alfredo Robledo on March 10 asked the judge to indict the former premier and Mr. Mills, who allegedly received $600,000 for testifying in Mr. Berlusconi's favor in a separate criminal case.

Mr. Berlusconi has been dogged by corruption charges since entering politics in 1994. In July, Judge Paparella ordered Mr. Berlusconi to stand trial for tax fraud, false accounting, and embezzlement tied to Mediaset's purchase of movie rights. Milan judges acquitted Mr. Berlusconi on December 10, 2004, of charges that he bribed judges, after the court shortened the statute of limitations for that case.

Both Messrs. Berlusconi and Mills deny any wrongdoing. Mr. Berlusconi, who controls Mediaset, Italy's biggest private TV broadcaster, through his Fininvest SpA holding company, is the leader of Italy's largest political party, Forza Italia. He lost the April national elections to Romano Prodi.