Mr Andreotti is relieved the long-running case is over

Italy's former Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti has been cleared of charges that he ordered the Mafia killing of a journalist 24 years ago, court officials said. The verdict from Italy's highest court overturned a decision by a lower court last November which had convicted the 84-year-old seven-times prime minister and life senator. That court had sentenced him to 24 years in prison, but he later avoided the threat of incarceration after it was deemed that too long had elapsed since the killing. The new verdict leaves no possibility for a re-trial and puts an end to Mr Andreotti's involvement with the case. Prosecutor Gianfranco Ciani said on Wednesday that Mr Andreotti had no motive to order the murder and described the case against him as "conjecture without any supporting evidence". Mr Andreotti has always claimed he was the victim of a mafia vendetta after one of the governments he led cracked down on organised crime. He has spent years wrangling with legal officials and opposition groups who argued he had ties with organised crime while prime minister of Italy between 1972 and 1992.