老贝性丑闻案将开庭 乔治克鲁尼受邀出庭作证

　　Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has called Hollywood starGeorge Clooney among his defense witnesses when he goes on trial nextmonth accused of sleeping with an under-aged prostitute, court documentssaid。

　　Berlusconi is accused of having sex with Moroccan night-club dancerKarima el Mahroug, known by her stage name Ruby, when she was 17, belowthe legal age for prostitution in Italy。

　　In the trial, which begins on April 6, prosecutors accuseBerlusconi of having had sex with a "significant number" of prostitutesduring parties held at his private villa near Milan。

　　He is also accused of abusing his office to have Ruby released frompolice custody where she was accused of theft, as part of a cover-up。

　　Ruby told prosecutors during questioning that Clooney and hispartner, Italian actress Elisabetta Canalis, were among the guests atone of Berlusconi's parties, a claim denied by Canalis。

　　Clooney, a U.S. actor and activist, said he could recall meetingthe Italian leader only on one occasion, about aid to Africa. "It seemsodd since I've only met Berlusconi once and that was in an attempt toget aid into Africa," Clooney said in a statement from his LosAngeles-based spokesman。

　　Clooney and Canalis are among an illustrious list of trialwitnesses made public Tuesday, featuring well-known Italian televisionpresenters, actors, journalists and politicians。

　　Four government ministers, including Foreign Minister FrancoFrattini and Equal Opportunities Minister Mara Carfagna, a formertopless model, have been called to testify。

　　Berlusconi denies ever paying for sex and says his parties were normal, "convivial" dinners。

　　意法庭近日表示，意大利总理西尔维奥?贝卢斯科尼日前请好莱坞影星乔治?克鲁尼为自己出庭作证。贝卢斯科尼将于下月出庭受审，被控与未成年妓女发生性交易。

　　贝卢斯科尼被控与来自摩洛哥的夜总会舞女卡莉玛?埃尔?马罗格发生性行为。马罗格艺名“偷心鲁比”，当时年仅17岁，低于意大利从事性交易的合法年龄18岁。

　　贝卢斯科尼将于4月6日出庭受审。届时，检察官将在审讯中指控贝卢斯科尼在米兰附近的私人别墅开派对时，与“为数众多”的妓女发生性行为。

　　老贝还被控滥用职权，使被控偷窃罪的鲁比免于警方拘留，帮助她掩盖罪行。

　　鲁比在接受审讯时称，克鲁尼曾和女友、意大利女星埃利萨贝塔?卡娜莉斯出席老贝举办的一次派对。但卡娜莉斯予以否认。

　　美国影星兼活动家克鲁尼表示，他只记得与意大利总理老贝有过一面之缘，而且是为了援助非洲一事。克鲁尼令其在洛杉矶的一位发言人代发声明称：“这太奇怪了，我只见过老贝一次，而且是为了援助非洲。”

　　除了克鲁尼和卡娜莉斯外，还有多位“明星证人”受邀为老贝作证，包括意大利知名主持人、演员、记者、政客等。这份名单于本周二公布。

　　此外，外交部长弗朗科?弗拉蒂尼、机会平等部部长玛拉?卡尔法尼亚等四位部长、以及一位前半裸模特都在证人之列。

　　贝卢斯科尼否认曾花钱买春，而且表示自己举办的派对是正常的、“欢乐的”聚会。