MILAN (AP) – An Italian judge on Tuesday ordered Premier Silvio Berlusconi to stand trial on charges he paid for sex with a 17-year-old Moroccan girl, then tried to cover it up. Berlusconi has stood trial on a number of business-related charges, but this is the first time the 74-year-old billionaire businessman is being tried for personal conduct. Berlusconi has denied wrongdoing, accusing the prosecutors of seeking to oust him from power. 
Judge Cristina Di Censo handed down the indictment with a terse statement. The trial is to begin April 6, and will be heard by a panel of three judges, all of them women.

The decision means Di Censo believes there is sufficient evidence to subject Berlusconi to an immediate trial, as has been requested by prosecutors. The sped-up procedure skips the preliminary hearing stage and is ordered in cases of overwhelming evidence. Paying for sex with a prostitute is not a crime in Italy, but it is if the prostitute is under 18.
Berlusconi has called the accusations “groundless” and dismissed the case as a “farce.”
But the indictment adds to Berlusconi’s troubles at a time when the three-time premier is politically vulnerable following a split with an ex-ally, and will increase pressure on him to resign – a possibility he has repeatedly rejected.  “We didn’t expect anything different,” one of Berlusconi’s attorneys, Piero Longo, was quoted as saying by the Affaritaliani website.
Prosecutors allege Berlusconi paid for sex with the Moroccan girl, nicknamed Ruby, then used his influence to get her out of police custody when she was detained for the unrelated suspected theft of euro3,000 ($4,103). They allege that Berlusconi feared her relationship to him would be revealed.
Both Berlusconi and Ruby have denied having sexual relations, although she has said Berlusconi gave her euro7,000 ($9,550) on their first meeting.  The child prostitution charge carries a possible prison sentence of six months to three years. The abuse of influence charge, which experts say is more dangerous for Berlusconi, carries a possible sentence of four to 12 years. (More here)
Meanwhile in another high profile story in Italy…… Amanda Knox Parents Indicted for Libel
PERUGIA, Italy (AP) – The parents of Amanda Knox, an American student convicted of murder in Italy, were ordered Tuesday to stand trial for alleging that Italian police abused their daughter, a lawyer and media reports said.
Curt Knox and Edda Mellas were indicted in Perugia for libel, said the Italian news agency ANSA. Lawyer Luciano Ghirga confirmed the indictment and said trial was set for July 4.  He said the couple did not attend the hearing.

The charge stems from an interview they gave Britain’s Sunday Times years ago in which the father alleged that police had physically and verbally abused his daughter during questioning after Meredith Kercher’s 2007 slaying, before Knox was arrested.  Police have denied harming Knox.  A Knox family representative said there would be no comment.
Knox and ex-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito were convicted in 2009 of sexually assaulting and murdering Kercher in the apartment she shared with Knox in the central Italian city of Perugia. Kercher was stabbed to death the night of Nov. 1, 2007.  Knox was sentenced to 26 years in prison; Sollecito 25 years. Both deny wrongdoing and their appeals trial is under way.  Another man, Rudy Guede, was also convicted in the killing. Italy’s highest criminal court has already upheld Guede’s conviction and his 16-year-prison sentence.