MILAN, Italy - February 15, 2011 - An Italian judge ordered Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi to stand trial on Tuesday on charges that include paying an underage girl for sex.
Following weeks of scandal that have shaken his struggling center-right government, trial has now been set to start in a criminal court in Milan on April 6, the Milan chief judge's office said in a statement.
Berlusconi is not obliged to appear in person before the panel of three judges on that day, nor is there any legal obstacle to him continuing to hold office throughout any trial proceedings, which could take years before any conviction.
Throughout a number of other legal cases, the 74-year-old premier has retained the loyalty of lieutenants in his own party, which he set up after making his fortune in business.
"We did not expect anything different," Piero Longo, one of Berlusconi's lawyers and a member of Parliament for the ruling PDL party, told reporters after the decision was announced.
Nonetheless, the decision is a blow to Berlusconi, who has faced mounting public criticism as he tries to shore up a precarious majority in Parliament.
