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Mystery continues to surround the arrest in Beirut on Saturday of former Euro MP Marcello Dell'Utri, a long- time business and political ally of ex-prime minister Silvio Berlusconi. This morning Mr Dell'Utri is scheduled to appear in a Beirut courtroom for a ruling on the validity of his arrest. If his arrest is upheld, then he faces an extradition request from Italy.
What is not clear, however, is just what Mr Dell’Utri was doing in Beirut.
Last Friday, the Palermo appeals court announced Mr Dell’Utri (72), who has been sentenced to seven years for Mafia collusion, had officially become a fugitive. Although Mr Dell’Utri was sentenced in 2004, his case is due to come to the final and definitive level of judgment only tomorrow in Palermo. If the judgment goes against him, he risks immediate imprisonment.
Wire taps from last November and recent police surveillance led police to believe he intended to abscond, probably to Beirut, prompting the issuing of a preventive arrest warrant on Wednesday. When he could not be found in Italy, Interpol on Friday issued an international warrant.
Mr Dell'Utri's mobile phone indicated he was indeed in Lebanon, while use of his credit card in the five-star Hotel Intercontinental Phoenicia in Beirut indicated the location. When he was arrested in his hotel room, he offered no resistance, reportedly saying:" Buongiorno , come in, I have been waiting for you."
Palermo decision
Mr Dell'Utri's future is uncertain. In all likelihood, the Lebanese authorities will await the outcome of tomorrow's appeal in Palermo. If the court quashed Mr Dell'Utri's previous two convictions, he would obviously be a free man.
Mr Berlusconiwas widely reported as saying that Mr Dell’Utri had gone to Beirut at his request, to help the leader of Lebanon’s Kataeb party, Amine Gemayel, a candidate in November’s presidential elections. Mr Berlusconi said he had asked Mr Dell’Utri to undertake this mission at the direct request of his friend, Russian president Vladimir Putin.