Former Italian prime minister Mr Giulio Andreotti, who served seventimes as the premier, looks set to be cleared ofmurder charges after a prosecutor asked the country's highestcourt today to annul a previous verdict.
The prosecutor, presenting the case against the 84-year-oldlife senator, asked the court to hand down the same ruling thatthe defence wants - a full acquittal with no re-trial and thedefinitive closing of the case.
Mr Andreotti's lawyers had taken the case to the Court ofCassation after an appeals court in the central city of Perugiasentenced him to 24 years in prison last November.
That shock sentence, which overturned an earlier not guiltyverdict by a lower court, found Mr Andreotti guilty of ordering the1979 killing of scandal-sheet journalist Mino Pecorelli.
The prosecution at the first two trials said Mr Andreottiordered the killing because Pecorelli was preparing an exposethat could have hurt the politician.
While the court is free to make any decision, includingordering a re-trial or confirming the guilty verdict, lawyerssaid the fact the prosecution agreed with the defence meantthere was a high probability that Andreotti would be cleared.
The Rome high court was expected to announce its decision onThursday night or Friday. Mr Andreotti has not been in prison whilethe appeals process has been ongoing.
The prosecution agreed there was no hard evidence to back upclaims made during the two earlier trials that Mr Andreotti wantedPecorelli dead and asked the Mafia to kill him.
The case against Mr Andreotti in the murder of Pecorelli, whowas shot dead in Rome, was based on testimony of a Mafia memberwho turned state's witness.
However, the credibility of such evidence has been widelydebated in Italy.
Mr Andreotti has been cleared of Mafia charges at a separatetrial in Palermo but prosecutors there have not yet decidedwhether to appeal.