Berlusconi "freed" by Italy's new immunity law

Italy's Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi addresses a news conference in Brussels June 20, 2008.

ROME (Reuters) - Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi thanked Italian politicians for granting him immunity from prosecution in a law approved by parliament this week, saying, "You've freed me."

"Finally the magistrates can't persecute me anymore," the 71-year-old billionaire was quoted as saying by senators at the closed-door meeting on Wednesday.

"Now on Saturdays I can work calmly and won't have to meet with my lawyers," he joked in comments carried by Italian media on Thursday.

Signed by President Giorgio Napolitano on Wednesday, the law suspends criminal cases against the prime minister, president and the heads of both chambers of parliament while they are in office.

It was a victory for the conservative leader, who says politically motivated prosecutors have been out to get him since he entered politics 14 years ago. But critics say the law is designed to free him from legal headaches.

Berlusconi is charged in Milan with paying British lawyer David Mills $600,000 in 1997 from alleged "secret funds" held by his Mediaset SpA -- Italy's largest private broadcaster -- to withhold incriminating details of his business dealings. Both men deny any wrongdoing.

Berlusconi could opt to renounce the immunity and fight the charges in court.

He claimed another legal victory on Thursday, as his lawyer Niccolo Ghedini said a Spanish court had absolved everyone accused in a trial concerning fiscal fraud at Telecinco, the Spanish broadcaster owned by Mediaset.

"Nobody talks about absolutions when they happen," Berlusconi said in a news conference called for another subject.

"I want to know who is going to compensate for the image tarnished in 10 years, the costs of the lawyers, the costs of air fares for the accused and the lawyers, the costs of transport and three-star hotels because you have to treat lawyers well," he added.

"Nobody, the reply is nobody. I hope someone will apologise, but I know it won't happen," he said.

Berlusconi has counted 2,500 hearings, 587 visits by the police and 174 million euros ($272.9 million) in legal fees during his political career. He has won all the cases against him, either by acquittal or because time ran out under Italy's statute of limitations.