ROME—Hollywood star George Clooney and Portuguese footballer Cristiano Ronaldo could testify in Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's defense in his upcoming sex trial, a lawyer told AFP Tuesday.
Clooney and his girlfriend Elisabetta Canalis, according to the defense, were among those who attended parties at Berlusconi's villa at Arcore which the prosecution says was the scene of orgies and strip-shows with prostitutes.
The 74-year old premier is to stand trial on April 6 for allegedly having paid pole dancer Karima El Mahroug, nicknamed "Ruby the Heart Stealer", for sex when she was 17, after one of his parties.
"We have proposed George Clooney as a witness," the lawyer said. "Ruby says both Clooney and Canalis were at a party at Arcore."
Clooney issued a statement expressing puzzlement.
"It seems odd since I've only met Berlusconi once and that was in an attempt to get aid into Darfur," he said.
The voluptuous dark-haired dancer told investigating judges she had sex with Real Madrid player Ronaldo after meeting him in a Milan nightclub in January 2010.
Ronaldo, currently the highest-paid footballer in the world, has denied ever meeting Ruby or giving her 4,000 euros in cash for her sexual services.
The current trial is centered around allegations that Berlusconi not only paid for sex with Ruby, but improperly used his power as prime minister by asking police to release her after she was arrested for suspected theft in May.
Both Ruby and Berlusconi have denied they had sexual relations.
Using the services of prostitutes is not a crime in Italy, but paying for sex with a girl under the age of 18 is illegal.
Ruby turned 18 in November 2010, and the prosecution alleges that Berlusconi had sex with her several months earlier.
The prosecution has submitted its own list of 136 witnesses, including 49 girls who attended the billionaire media magnate's parties, some of whom have provided photographic and video evidence of the raunchy evenings.
The defense team have argued that these witnesses have lied over Berlusconi's alleged nights with prostitutes and raucous parties with orgies and guests dressed up as nurses or policewomen.
The Milan judges may decide to refuse to grant the defense's proposed witnesses if they decide their testimony is not relevant to the case in question.
Clooney is no stranger to Italian courts. In 2010 the 49-year-old Hollywood heart-throb appeared at the fraud trial of three people accused of having co-opted his name for a fashion label.
The Golden Globe-winning actor has a house on the shores of Lake Como in northern Italy, not far from Berlusconi's private villa at Arcore.
He spends several months a year there, sometimes with Italian model and actress Canalis.
She too features on the list of 78 witnesses the premier's legal team would like to call in Berlusconi's defense. (report from Agence France-Presse)
