Q&A: What's next for Berlusconi after immunity lifted?

ROME (Reuters) - With his immunity from prosecution lifted by Italy's Constitutional Court, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi faces the reopening of two trials against him. But the biggest threat could be political rather than legal.

Here are some questions and answers about the fallout from the court's ruling on the Italian conservative leader.

WHICH TRIALS AWAIT BERLUSCONI?

The highest-profile trial facing Berlusconi sees him accused of bribing British lawyer David Mills to give false testimony to protect his businesses.

Mills was sentenced in February to 4-1/2 years in prison for corruption. His appeal trial starts on Friday.

The portion of the trial involving Berlusconi was frozen by a law granting him immunity from prosecution while in office, now thrown out by the Constitutional Court.

A second case involves the acquisition of TV rights by Mediaset, which according to prosecutors bought the rights at an inflated price from two offshore companies controlled by Berlusconi. He is accused of tax fraud and false accounting.

IS BERLUSCONI REALLY THREATENED?

Not in the short term, and possibly not at all. By law, the judges who convicted Mills for corruption cannot be the same who judge Berlusconi. So the portion of the Mills trial that involves him will have to restart from scratch.

Because of Italy's slow and tortuous justice system, both cases against Mills and Berlusconi are likely to have to be dropped if a final verdict does not come before the charges expire under the country's statute of limitations. That is expected to happen within two years, according to legal sources.

In the Mediaset rights trial, several charges against the prime minister and his co-defendants already have lapsed.

Prosecutors are trying to extend the timeframe during which the crimes of tax fraud and false accounting were, in their view, committed, so the trial can go on for a longer time.

But again, if Berlusconi is convicted, the full procedure -- involving as many as three trials -- is unlikely to be completed before the charges expire, possibly as early as 2012. The biggest threat to Berlusconi could come from a related inquiry involving alleged tax evasion as recently as 2005.

Berlusconi, who has been cleared several times in previous trials thanks to the statute of limitations, denies any wrongdoing.

SO WHY THE FUSS ABOUT IMMUNITY?

Berlusconi, 73, does not want a run of bad headlines for months to come, distracting from his government duties until his term ends in 2013.

He may also fear that new investigations could pop up. A sex scandal involving prostitutes who attended parties at his Rome residence has had no legal implication for him so far. But any more such revelations could be embarrassing.

ARE EARLY ELECTIONS AN OPTION?

The sex scandal had already hurt Berlusconi and cast a shadow over his third term in power, even though he still enjoys approval ratings at around 50 percent -- no mean feat for the leader of a country in its worst recession since World War Two.

The court's ruling weakens him further but his two main allies -- Northern League leader Umberto Bossi and lower house speaker Gianfranco Fini -- have both ruled out early elections.

The opposition is also against a new vote, because it would almost certainly lose badly, as it did last year.

So both center-right leaders jostling to position themselves for a post-Berlusconi era, and the divided center left, seem to have an interest in a "lame duck" scenario -- letting a bruised Berlusconi carry on until a viable alternative comes up.

One problem with that scenario is whether Berlusconi will bow out slowly and quietly -- which would seem out of character.