The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has rejected a plea from Marcello Dell'Utri, a former close aide to ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi, to be released from jail early on health grounds, sources at the Strasbourg court said Thursday.
Dell'Utri, 76, is serving seven years in jail on mafia charges.
Dell'Utri, a former Berlusconi advertising company chief credited with organising the foundation of Berlusconi's centre-right Forza Italia (FI) party in 1993, a year before it first swept to power, has been in and out of hospital for tests on a string of ailments recently.
He is serving time for external complicity in mafia association.
The former aide of billionaire media magnate Berlusconi is being treated for prostate cancer, diabetes and heart problems.
An Italian parole board recently rejected Dell'Utri's bid to be released on health grounds.
In January Palermo prosecutors requested that a Palermo court hand Dell'Utri a 12-year prison term in a trial into alleged State-Mafia negotiations in the early 1990s.
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