In front line - Berlusconi (3)

(ANSA) - Rome, May 10 - 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.