Czech ex prime minister admits his nude photo in "El Pais" : leftwing plot
international |
politics / elections |
news report 
Friday June 05, 2009 23:31
by prurience
The controversial ex-prime minister of the Czech Republic and rotating leader of the EU for most of this year, Mirek Topolanek has responded to the publication of five images taken by a Sardinian journalist's collection of many hundreds at the holiday villa of Italian billionaire, media mogul and prime minister Silvio Berlusconi.
The publication of the photographs have provoked legal action from both Berlusconi and Topolanek despite their unprecendent sucess. "El Pais" has issued both English and Italian language editorials and garnered the complete support of the spanish union of journalists.
Mirek Topolanek for his part says the timing of the publication of the photos, by the Spanish equivalent of "The Guardian" newspaper, is obvious proof that this is all a left-wing plot and then muses I had no idea the EU elections were so important to some people. Though admitting his presence at the villa and his appearance in the photographs he complains of an illegitimate interest in his private affairs.
Spanish language link http://www.elpais.com/articulo/internacional/Topolanek/...7/Tes
El Pais has broken its circulation record with more than 50% of its web traffic today coming from IP addresses outside the Spanish state, in addition more than 200 other newspapers have linked to the photos from their website.
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The English texts from "El Pais" are worth reading in Ireland as they are being absorbed globally, since the majority Irish right wing parties are canvassing for votes to elect deputies to sit their white little bottoms down in the same block in Brussels.
"Veronica Lario, First Lady of Italy, said a month ago that under her husband's influence, politics in Italy "had degraded to shameless levels", where only looks and television are taken into account, and where "many parents are willing to close their eyes and offer their virgins to the dragon". Her words unleashed a political earthquake that keeps growing in intensity. In this context, the Sardinian photographer Antonello Zappadu, 51, who took from 2007 until January 2009 the pictures of Villa Certosa, the splendid mansion Berlusconi owns in Sardinia, has become the main witness for the prosecution.
Zappadu is not a paparazzo. He is a reporter and has chosen to protect the privacy of the people who appear in the images. That is the reason why all the faces seen in these pages are unrecognizable, because they were fuzzed by him - all, except Berlusconi's. Zappadu's photo feature shows the atmosphere at Villa Certosa, the people with whom Berlusconi socializes and how he spends his spare time. The property covers 60 hectares and is near Porto Redondo, an area concentrating most of the tourism of Costa Smeralda.
Last week, Zappadu tried to sell his graphic work to Panorama, a magazine linked to Berlusconi?s media empire, for 1.5 million euros. The magazine refused to pay that amount for the pictures, and Berlusconi and his lawyers brought charges against the reporter before the Public Prosecutor's Office and the Privacy Defender on grounds of "privacy invasion and swindle attempt".
As a result of the charges, the Public Prosecutor seized Zappadu's files, including the images taken at public places, such as Olbia Airport, in Sardinia.Those pictures have led to an investigation of Berlusconi's alleged illegal use of flights financed by the State. The journalist says that "almost every weekend", official planes flown by the 31º Squadrone dell' Aeronautica Italiana delivered at the airport the prime Minister's friends, artists, dancers and velinas (television hostesses)."
English language link :-
http://www.elpais.com/articulo/internacional/The/pictur...3/Tes
Excerpt from the English language editorial also reproduced in Italian
"Berlusconi revealed"
http://www.elpais.com/articulo/opinion/Berlusconi/revea...1/Tes
"Berlusconi does not seem to understand that it is the democratic press the one which respects his intimacy, and he the one who does not cease to question it. The publication of these photos is not an attempt to judge his morality as a citizen. Their aim is to prove that Berlusconi is trying to turn democratic politics into a mere prolongation of his personal relations and pastimes. According to his own statements, that is precisely what he did when he prepared the electoral lists of his party and even when he appointed the members of his government. And the same can be said of the use of the facilities that the Government places at the disposal of the Prime Minister in order to carry out his institutional duties. Taking guests to private parties is not what official planes are for, regardless of whether those guests are dancers o television hostesses. And the fact that the Prime Minister passed a law in 2008 which broadened official flights to include any companion does not give him any legal coverage. Rather, it proves a blatant abuse of power. The Italian press has denounced the scandal, but the Prime Minister's response has not only been to deny and to trivialize these facts, showing himself as a fatherly guardian of the girls, who, he claims, have special artistic or political talents. Berlusconi has also tried to discredit citizens, like his wife, who were in a position to corroborate the reports. That kind of pressure is the proof that, under Berlusconi, freedom of speech is threatened. On the other hand, the Italian Public Prosecutor has seized all the files of the photographer who took the pictures. This scandal exposes Berlusconi, not as a citizen, but as a politician. Until now, his inappropriate remarks had been taken as a joke.
But today there are new and solid reasons to warn that what the Prime Minister is risking is the future of Italy as a State governed by the rule of law. And an Italy going down the slope to which Berlusconi is dragging it is not only a matter of concern for Italians, but for all Europeans.
& that is simply why nobody ought vote for an Irish candidate who will sit on the right wing of the European parliament. Unless of course they're happy with the idea of their prime ministers cavorting with newsreaders and young dancers......,
maybe they are.