Former Italian PM Berlusconi sentenced to one year in jail, time he likely won’t serve
Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has been sentenced to one year in jail for a wiretap trail connected to his family’s newspaper business.
Italy’s former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi arrives for a meeting of the European People’s Party (EPP), ahead of a two-day European Union leaders summit, in Brussels December 13, 2012. After a hectic year of crisis management, during which Greece had a close brush with the euro zone exit, European Union leaders aim to strengthen banking oversight and work on wider reforms at their sixth summit of 2012 starting on Thursday. REUTERS/Eric Vidal (BELGIUM – Tags: POLITICS BUSINESS)
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Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has been sentenced to one year in jail for a wiretap trail connected to his family’s newspaper business.
But the 76-year-old billionaire likely won’t serve time, as Italian courts allow him to remain out of jail during the entire appeals process, reports Reuters.
Italian law also states that anyone who is over the age of 75 and is sentenced to less than two years doesn’t have to serve time in jail, says The Telegraph.
Berlusconi’s brother Paolo, the editor of Il Giornale newspaper, was also sentenced to jail time of two years and three months.
This decision will not stop Berlusconi from participation in Italian politics. Last week, Berlusconi’s centre-right alliance was re-elected, in an election that has left the country’s government in a stalemate with no clear winning party.
All in all, it will be business as usual for Berlusconi, trying to govern a country that has been called “ungovernable” as he deals with two other, unrelated, court cases, one concerning tax fraud and one concerning an alleged sex scandal with underage prostitutes.