[JURIST] Italian prosecutors have appealed the 2004 acquittal [JURIST report] of Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi [BBC profile] on charges that he bribed judges to block competing industrialist Carlo De Benedetti from buying a state-owned food conglomerate. In 1985, judges stopped the sale and the food group eventually ended up being partitioned and sold in pieces. In Italy, both acquittals and convictions are appealable. Berlusconi, a wealthy businesman, owns a large segment of the Italian media market [business profile] and has faced many criminal cases where the statute of limitations have either run out or he has been acquitted. AP has more.