Silvio Berlusconi's latest trial opened in Naples on Tuesday, this time for allegedly bribing a senator in 2006 to join his party in a move aimed at destabilizing a rival center-left government in power at the time.

The trial is the third ongoing case against Berlusconi, who is appealing a prison sentence for having sex with an underage 17-year-old prostitute and abuse of office and another for leaking a confidential police wiretap.

The 77-year-old billionaire tycoon last year was also convicted for tax fraud - his first ever definitive conviction - and has been ejected from the Italian Senate and lost his parliamentary immunity.

Berlusconi, who regularly protests his innocence by accusing prosecutors of engineering a left-wing political plot against him, was not at the hearing and is not obliged to attend under Italian law.

He is accused of giving 3 million euros ($4.1 million) in 2006 to Sergio De Gregorio, then a senator from the anti-corruption Italy of Values party, to join his People of Freedom party and help undermine the center-left government in power at the time.

A former Berlusconi aide, Valter Lavitola, is also on trial for being the alleged intermediary for the bribe.

The trial is being held in Naples as it was the seat occupied by De Gregorio, who is working with investigators.

Among the issues on the table at the first hearings on Tuesday and Wednesday will be a request from Senate speaker Pietro Grasso to be considered a plaintiff in the trial - a move that has proved hugely controversial among Berlusconi's supporters.

AFP