Ex-premier and centre-right Forza
Italia (FI) leader Silvio Berlusconi said Wednesday he would be
"in the front line" whatever the result of his appeal against an
office ban to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in
Strasbourg.
"I'll be in the front line whatever Strasbourg decides, I'll
lead the FI campaign with my face, my words, my ideas,"
Berlusconi said in excerpts from a forthcoming interview with
newsweekly Panorama.
The three-time premier and media baron added that reviving
his former cross-party 'Nazarene Pact' with ex-premier and
centre-left Democratic Partry (PD) leader Matteo Renzi was
"impossible".
He accuded the PD of being "ambiguous" with the government
led by one of its top members, former foreign minister Paolo
Gentiloni, and said he "rated" Gentiloni.
On April 26 the ECHR said that it was relinquishing
jurisdiction of Berlusconi's appeal against the ban on him
holding public office in favour of the Grand Chamber.
The Grand Chamber is usually reserved for cases that are
particularly important or complex.
The former premier was ousted from parliament in 2013 under
the 2012 Severino Law that prevents anyone sentenced to over two
years from holding or running for public office for at least six
years.
The law, named after then justice minister Paola Severino,
kicked in after the media billionaire was handed a definitive
conviction for tax fraud.
Berlusconi was sentenced to four years in prison for
masterminding a tax-dodging strategy by his Mediaset company,
commuted to one year of community service which he began serving
in May 2014.
Berlusconi argues that Italy violated European legislation by
applying the 2012 law retroactively, thus imposing a harsher
penalty than was applicable at the time of the crime for which
he was convicted.
He complained of violations of Article 7 (no punishment
without law), Article 13 (right to an effective remedy) and
Article 3 of Protocol No. 1 (right to free elections).
The Grand Chamber comprises seventeen judges, including the
President and the Vice-Presidents of the Court, the Section
Presidents, the national judge and other judges drawn by lot.
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