Marina Berlusconi criticised RAI’s Report programme, calling Sunday night’s episode on Silvio Berlusconi “the worst media-judicial garbage.”
The episode, aired on the third channel of State broadcaster RAI, focused on investigations linked to the late three-time premier. Marina, president of Fininvest and Mondadori, said it “rummaged for nearly two hours in a dustbin of unconnected, illogical charges already denied 1,000 times.”
She added that the programme used content from previous shows and gave a platform to “discredited individuals.” The episode, she said, attempted to revive “defaming, paradoxical accusations” about Berlusconi’s alleged ties to organised crime.
The allegations, Marina stated, are “a quarter of a century old” and have been consistently dismissed in multiple shelved cases.
Report examined Berlusconi’s political and financial empire, including his aide Marcello Dell’Utri’s role in alleged links between politics, business, and the mafia. The programme described these as raising “questions about our country’s recent past.”
Silvio Berlusconi, who died in June 2023 aged 86, faced accusations of mafia involvement during the 1993 bombings in Florence, Rome, and Milan. These bombings killed ten people and occurred before the launch of his political party, Forza Italia.
Investigations into Berlusconi’s role in the bombings concluded at early stages, with prosecutors finding no case to answer. Dell’Utri, however, served seven years for external complicity in mafia association and remains under investigation.
Report also revisited claims about Berlusconi’s business origins, which mafia turncoats previously alleged were linked to the Sicilian mafia. These allegations remain unproven.
Forza Italia issued a statement condemning the episode as a “cowardly political attack” full of “artificial reconstructions” of legal cases unrelated to the party’s activities. The party accused the programme of attempting to manipulate public opinion.
