An Italian appeals court overturned a corruption conviction against Silvio Berlusconi's former lawyer yesterday in a ruling that represented a personal triumph for the Italian prime minister.

But in a sweet and sour verdict for Berlusconi's friend, Cesare Previti, the court upheld a conviction in another graft case and cut his jail sentence to seven years from 11.

Previti is a member of parliament for Berlusconi's Forza Italia (Go Italy) party and his long-running corruption trials have fuelled the Prime Minister's own ferocious fight against the Italian judiciary.

Yesterday's verdict marked a breakthrough for both men, with the appeals court rejecting a 2003 ruling that said Previti had bribed judges on behalf of Berlusconi's business empire to let it win control of Italy's biggest publishing house, Mondadori. Berlusconi was originally accused of corruption in the same bitter takeover battle, but the charges were subsequently dropped because of a statute of limitations that said time had run out for the court to press for a conviction.

Previti's 2003 guilty verdict nonetheless left a cloud of suspicion hanging over the Prime Minister and Berlusconi's supporters hailed yesterday's ruling.

"One by one all the accusations levelled against Berlusconi are falling by the wayside," said Sandro Bondi, national coordinator for Forza Italia. "But who is going to repay him for all the injustice heaped on him these past 11 years?"

Previti had less to celebrate with the appeals court upholding accusations that he had passed on massive bribes to judges to help win a favourable ruling in another 1990s takeover case involving Italian petrochemical firm SIR.

The SIR case, described by judges in 2003 as "the biggest case of corruption in the history of the Italian republic", had nothing to do with Berlusconi's business concerns.

Convictions were also upheld against two Rome judges accused of accepting kickbacks from Previti, although they also saw their prison terms almost halved.

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