MILAN, ITALY (BNO NEWS) -- The tax-fraud trial against Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi on Monday was resumed in a Milan court, the ANSA news agency reported.

The PM did not attend court for the first of the three graft trials over the fraudulent sale of film rights. The graft trials were reactivated after a Constitutional Court partly lifted a judicial shield that protected Berlusconi.

The so-called legitimate impediment law impeded the Prime Minister from attending hearings regarding three trials against him. The Court's ruling dismantled the overall framework of the immunity law and allowed judges to assess on a case-by-case basis whether the PM should attend the hearings.

"Four trials in Milan for the premier is a situation without precedent," said Berlusconi's lawyer, Niccolo Ghedini. "It is beyond normality."

Ghedine said that the PM will attend the next hearing of the first trial on April 11. The second graft trial is scheduled to resume on March 11. The PM is accused of paying British tax lawyer David Mills for allegedly favorable testimony.

On March 5, the third corruption trial will be restarted from scratch over the accusations of the alleged film-sale tax irregularities by a Mediaset unit, Mediatrade, owned by Berlusconi.

In addition, the PM will face a fourth trial over the prostitution scandal with an underage Moroccan dancer and abuse of power. The first hearing was scheduled for April 6 and prosecutors claimed to have ample evidence against the Italian leader.

On Sunday, Berlusconi vowed to stay as Prime Minister until the end of his term in office in 2013. Opposition parties have demanded the dismissal of Berlusconi due to the fraud and prostitution scandals.

Berlusconi added that the Milan prosecutors are trying to oust him from office as he claimed his innocence once more. Meanwhile, thousands of women rallied in more than 200 Italian cities to protest Berlusconi's alleged behavior toward women and demand his resignation.

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