Italian court overturns women’s acquittals in ‘Bunga Bunga’ legal saga

The art collective “Yogurt al Gusto di Gelato” at their studio in Milan, on Oct. 7, 2024. Italy’s Supreme Court overturned the acquittals of 21 women in the country’s long-running “Bunga Bunga” scandal on Monday, ruling that the women could be retried. (Davide Monteleone/The New York Times)

By Emma Bubola

After 14 years, the 21 women accused of helping to cover up Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s evening bacchanals had hoped that their long legal saga over the so-called “Bunga Bunga” scandal might be over.

But Italy’s Supreme Court overturned their acquittals, ruling Monday that the women could be retried, according to the general prosecutor on the case — a setback for the women and an indication of how large the shadow of Berlusconi, who died last year, still looms in Italy.

The court decision sets the stage for yet another trial related to a scandal that gripped Italy and set off an international tabloid frenzy in 2010, when news emerged about parties Berlusconi was hosting at his villa near Milan.

In the first trial, Berlusconi was accused of paying for sex with a 17-year-old woman at one of the parties and abusing his office to cover it up. Both the woman and Berlusconi denied it. Berlusconi was initially found guilty, but was later acquitted because of a lack of evidence that he was aware at the time that the teen was underage. In the second trial, several of Berlusconi’s associates were convicted of aiding and abetting prostitution by procuring women for the bacchanals, which became known as the “Bunga Bunga parties.”

The third trial involved 21 women accused of accepting hush money to lie and protect Berlusconi in the earlier court proceedings. A lower court had acquitted them on procedural grounds, but prosecutors in Milan appealed the verdict.

The deputy prosecutor general at the Supreme Court, Roberto Aniello, confirmed that Italy’s Supreme Court in Rome had ruled Monday that the 21 women could be retried. The court has not yet explained its decision; that typically follows in a statement.

An appeals court in Milan is set to take up the case, though it was not immediately clear when that would take place.

The New York Times reached out to several of the women, who were not immediately available for comment. Some of the 21 have, in the past, admitted to taking money or expensive gifts from Berlusconi, but said it was not intended to buy their silence.