Milan court set to rule on Berlusconi ban from office
(ANSA) – Milan, October 18 – A Milan court is expected to rule on Saturday on a ban on holding public office for Silvio Berlusconi after Italy’s supreme court upheld a tax-fraud conviction against the ex-premier in August.
The supreme Court of Cassation upheld a four-year prison sentence against the three-time premier – three years of which have been commuted because of an amnesty – for his first definitive conviction after two decades of legal battles.
But the Cassation suspended a five-year ban from office, saying it was miscalculated, and sent it back to the Milan appeals court to be reassessed.
It is expected that the Milan court will reduce the ban to between one year and three years.
The floor of the Upper House is expected to vote next month on whether to strip Berlusconi of his Senate seat in the basis of a 2012 anti-corruption law. Berlusconi says he is the victim of persecution from left-wing elements in the judiciary who alleged want to wipe him from the political arena and is appealing to the European Court of Human Rights.
The 77-year-old is also appealing convictions for paying for sex with an underage prostitute and for being involved in the publication of an illegally obtained wiretap in Italian courts.