Italy court bans Berlusconi from public office for two years

Source: Reuters

By Ilaria Polleschi
MILAN | Sat Oct 19, 2013 8:51am EDT

(Reuters) - A Milan court ruled on Saturday that former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi should be barred from holding public office for two years following a conviction for tax fraud.

However, since Berlusconi is a senator, the court's decision will have no immediate effect and his expulsion from the Senate will depend on a separate vote in the upper house of parliament, expected to take place next month.

Saturday's ruling reflected the prosecution's request for a two-year ban. Berlusconi's lawyers, who said they would appeal the decision to the supreme court, had asked for a one-year ban, the minimum under the law being applied in the Milan case. The maximum would have been three years.

Italy's supreme court on August 1 definitively upheld a tax fraud conviction against the center-right leader, rejecting his final appeal against an earlier four-year jail sentence.

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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/10/19/us-italy-berlusconi-idUSBRE99I01T20131019