Disappointment over Berlusoni trial

A Milan court erupts as the corruption trial against former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi ends.

The trial that began in 2007 ended on Saturday without a verdict because the statute of limitations expired.

Residents in Rome were dissatisfied, saying the powerful politician escaped justice.

(SOUNDBITE) (Italian) ROME RESIDENT, PIERGIORGIO CARRARA

"I think either that a normal person would already have been convicted years ago, or that justice in Italy does not work and you cannot reach a verdict."

Prosecutors were pursuing a five-year sentence on allegations Berlusconi bribed British lawyer David Mills to sway his testimony in a separate fraud trial.

Mills was never extradited to serve the four-and-a-half-year sentence he received in 2009 for taking a $600,000 bribe to withhold incriminating information about the premier.

Berlusconi claims he would have been acquitted if his trial continued.

(SOUNDBITE) (Italian) FORMER ITALIAN PRIME MINISTER SILVIO BERLUSCONI

"Regarding the Mills trial, I have said that half justice is made because if we looked at the facts there could only have been a full verdict of acquittal for not having committed the fact (bribes), and this was clear also five years ago."

Berlusconi resigned in November amid Italy's debt crisis.

Lindsey Parietti, Reuters