Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has branded magistrates 'a cancer of democracy' as he attended a hearing in one of the four trials he faces.
'There is something incredible about this whole trial,' Mr Berlusconi said during a pause in the hearing.
The Italian Prime Minister is accused of bribing British lawyer David Mills with $600,000 (€416,000) to give false evidence about his business interests.
He said accusations had been unfounded in more than 20 other cases brought against him over the years. 'If this is not a cancer of democracy you are from another planet,' he said.
Mr Berlusconi faces two other trials for corruption and a fourth - the most controversial - for allegedly having sex with an under-age dancer and then using his office to cover it up.
He denies all the charges and says Milan magistrates are politically biased leftists bent on destroying him. He has launched almost daily attacks against the magistrates, but his cancer remark is one of the most extreme.
Italian President Giorgio Napolitano, who has frequently tried to call Mr Berlusconi to order, rushed to the defence of the court, saying it had to be treated 'with honour'.
Mr Berlusconi said he would ask parliament to establish a commission of inquiry into the ethics of magistrates.
Outside the courthouse several demonstrators held up banners against the prime minister.
A small group of Berlusconi supporters cheered him, joining in a shouting match with anti-Berlusconi protestors.
