Italy's President yesterday rejected a controversial justice Bill which critics said was designed to favour Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, in an apparent blow to the premier weeks before a general election.

The Bill would have prevented prosecutors from appealing against a verdict of acquittal after an initial trial. Opponents said this was tailor-made to benefit Mr Berlusconi in his legal battles over corruption allegations.

The measures had been put forward by Mr Berlusconi's lawyer Gaetano Pecorella, who is also the head of Parliament's justice committee, and won final approval from the Senate upper house earlier this month.

President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi said in a statement he was sending the Bill back to Parliament for further work, meaning it was now unlikely to become law before the April 9 election.

Mr Ciampi said parts of the Bill, which Mr Berlusconi had called a priority, were in "clear contrast" with Italy's Constitution.

Italian media said the new measures would stop prosecutors appealing against Mr Berlusconi's 2004 acquittal in a trial in which he was accused of bribing judges to block the sale of state-owned SME food chain to a rival businessman.

Proponents of the Bill said it would have speeded up Italy's legal system, one of the slowest in the world. Under current rules, defence and prosecution both have a right to two appeals before a sentence is final, meaning the average criminal case takes more than four years to clear the courts.

The opposition hailed Mr Ciampi's move.

"We must applaud Ciampi. This would have been the umpteenth tailor-made law (to help Berlusconi)," said Antonio Di Pietro, a former magistrate turned opposition politician.

The Prime Minister's allies said they did not understand what was wrong with the proposed reform.

"I am sorry to see a liberal Bill sent back to Parliament," said Fabrizio Cicchitto, a senior official in Berlusconi's Forza Italia (Go Italy) party.

The Bill rejected by Mr Ciampi was the latest in a flurry of reforms rushed through Parliament by Mr Berlusconi's centre-right majority, which trails the opposition in opinion polls.

Parliament must be dissolved at least 45 days before the vote. Mr Ciampi is expected to dissolve it on January 29 but Mr Berlusconi said on Friday he hoped the legislature would be extended by a few days.

"We still have some laws to approve in Parliament," he said, speaking on a television talk show.