??? THERE were no reporters allowed when Silvio Berlusconi appeared before judges and prosecutors Monday. But that didn’t much matter, because while he was inside the court, he made sure that most of the action happened outside. ??? That morning, a little more than an hour before his court appearance, the prime minister called into one of the television channels owned by his media company to denounce the charges against him as politically motivated accusations. ??? “Whatever happened in court, what remains in the public eye is his appearance on television and his supporters cheering outside the courthouse,” says James Walston, a political scientist at the American University of Rome. ??? On the TV show, Berlusconi used the case against him to make the case against his foes, claiming that the fraud charges are the 25th trial he has faced since becoming prime minister in 1994, a time period during which he says he has survived 2,564 hearings without ever having a conviction stick. ??? “I’m the most accused man in the history of the universe,” Berlusconi told the show’s host, Maurizio Belpietro, editor of a right-wing paper. ??? According to Robert D’Alimonte, a professor of political science at Rome’s LUISS University, the prime minister’s rare decision to stand before the judges Monday — in Italy, defendants are not required to attend hearings — shows that he feels he has regained his political footing after a long year in which he fell out with his closest political ally and weathered a storm of embarrassing revelations. ??? “The advantage for Berlusconi is that he has no credible opposition,” says D’Alimonte. “There’s no alternative coalition. The opposition is in disarray.” ??? Although Berlusconi’s poll numbers have suffered in recent weeks, he retains a slim control in parliament, which is moving forward on passing new sets of laws that his opponents again say will clear him in some of his trials. ??? Being seen as cooperative on relatively unimportant hearings like Monday’s is likely to give Berlusconi leeway with the public if he fights back on others, especially with those who agree that he’s being persecuted. ??? “A lot of Italians now are convinced that he is a victim of a judicial persecution,” says D’Alimonte. “He can show his public he’s not fearful of going to court, that he’s a law-abiding citizen of the system, that he’s a victim of the system, but he doesn’t want to duck it.” And then it might not matter just what happens behind closed doors. ??? (SD-Agencies) | 