George Clooney and Cristiano Ronaldo named as witnesses in Silvio Berlusconi trial - Telegraph.co.uk
She will be called as a prosecution witness, although she denies sleeping with the former prime minister.
The court's decision to accept the list of witnesses – 78 for the defence and 136 for the prosecution – ensures the trial can expect a "parade of VIPs in the next few months," the Italian press said.
Mr Berlusconi's lawyers want to call Clooney and Ronaldo in order to undermine the credibility of Miss El Mahroug, now aged 18 and pregnant, who is better known by her stage name of Ruby the Heart Stealer.
She told prosecutors that she met Ronaldo in Milan – a claim his lawyers vehemently deny, saying that he was not even in the city on the dates cited.
The nightclub dancer also said she saw Clooney at a dinner held by Mr Berlusconi at his mansion near Milan – but the Hollywood star says he has only met the media magnate once and that was to talk about the humanitarian crisis in Darfur.
Among the other witnesses summoned by the defence are Franco Frattini, Mr Berlusconi's foreign minister before the government collapsed earlier this month, and Mara Carfagna, his former equal opportunities minister, who started her career as a men's magazine model.
The defence will also call Clooney's former girlfriend, Italian showgirl Elisabetta Canalis, and Belen Rodriguez, an Argentinian-born starlet who regularly appears on Italian television and in the pages of gossip magazines.
The prosecution will call 32 models and aspiring actresses who attended so-called "bunga-bunga" parties at Mr Berlusconi's villa at Arcore, which the Italian press have dubbed "Hardcore".
The trial began in April but is still bogged down in procedural matters and no witnesses have yet given evidence.
23 Nov, 2011--
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