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George Clooney Could Testify In Berlusconi Sex Trial

George Clooney and his girlfriend Italian actress Elisabetta Canalis pose on the red carpet of the screening of "Up in the Air."
Andrew Medichini
/
AP
George Clooney and his girlfriend Italian actress Elisabetta Canalis pose on the red carpet of the screening of "Up in the Air."

Lawyers for Silvio Berlusconi announced today that Oscar-Award winning actor George Clooney might be among the people called to testify at the trial of the Italian prime minister.

Berlusconi is facing a trial over allegations that he paid for sex with an underage girl. Prosecutors say the 17-year-old attended the "bunga bunga" parties Berlusconi hosted. Details of Berlusconi's Bunga Bunga parties have been all over the press and, last week, Britain's Telegraph and others published R-rated pictures of the parties.

Today, Berlusconi's lawyers released a list of 78 potential witnesses, among them Clooney and his girlfriend and Italian model Elisabetta Canalis.

The BBC reports:

The couple were said to have been seen at one of Mr Berlusconi's parties by Karima el-Mahroug, the teenager whom he is alleged to have paid for sex.

The trial is due to start on 6 April. Mr Berlusconi denies the charges.

The Vancouver Sun reports that Clooney has a "house on the shores of Lake Como in northern Italy, not far from Berlusconi's private villa at Arcore."

The BBC adds that Clooney's girlfriend "is believed to have denied attending the February 2010 party."

Ultimately an Italian judge will decide what witnesses to call.

Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Eyder Peralta
Eyder Peralta is NPR's East Africa correspondent based in Nairobi, Kenya.