Italian Court hands former prime minister two year ban from public office

MILAN (Reuters) - A Milan court on
Saturday ruled that former Prime Minister
Silvio Berlusconi should be barred from
holding public office for two years
following a conviction for tax fraud.
But, 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 can appeal to the
supreme court, had asked for a one-year
ban, the minimum under the law that was
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 centre-right leader, rejecting his
final appeal against an earlier four-year jail
sentence.
The four-year sentence was commuted to
one year, and, if the Senate expels him,
Berlusconi will spend the year either under
house arrest or in community service.
In the August 1 ruling, the supreme court
confirmed the conviction but ordered a
further judicial review of a ban on holding
public office imposed for the same offence.
The upper house's vote next month will
effectively supersede the Milan court's
decision because it will be based on a
separate law, which, if he is expelled,
would ban Berlusconi from public office for
six years.
Losing his seat in the Senate would deprive
Berlusconi, who is fighting a conviction for
paying for sex with a minor among other
legal cases, of his parliamentary immunity
from arrest.
A special Senate committee opened the way
earlier this month for a motion to expel
Berlusconi.
The Senate is dominated by Berlusconi
opponents from both the left and the anti-
establishment 5-Star Movement and is
expected to vote to strip him of his seat.
The decision over Berlusconi's future has
been one of the most sensitive issues
facing parliament.
Centre-left Prime Minister Enrico Letta's
awkward coalition with Berlusconi's People
of Freedom party (PDL) came close to falling
when Berlusconi pulled his ministers out of
the government last month.
The stated reason for the break was a
disagreement over tax policy, but the weeks
of tension over his impending expulsion
helped poison the climate in the broad left-
right coalition.
The August supreme court ruling involved
inflated invoices at his Mediaset
broadcasting empire and was the first
definitive sentence he had received after
dozens of previous trials on charges
ranging from tax to sex offences.
The 76-year-old billionaire has protested
his innocence, accusing magistrates of
persecuting him since his entry into politics
20 years ago.