No to early release for Dell'Utri (2)

(ANSA) - Rome, Cctober 23 - Marcello Dell'Utri, a former right-hand man of ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi, is not entitled to early release because of the gravity of the mafia-related crimes he was convicted of, the Cassation Court said Monday, upholding a February 14 Bologna jail-review tribunal ruling.
    External collaboration in mafia association is a crime excluded from those where early release can be granted the top court said. Dell'Utri is serving seven years for colluding with the mafia in Palermo, and on top of that got four years last November for a VAT scam.
    The 756-year-old former close aide to three-time ex-premier and media mogul Berlusconi and co-founder of Berlusconi's Forza Italia party was convicted in 2014 of acting as an ambassador between the centre-right group and the Cosa Nostra Mafia in his native Sicily.
    He was extradited from Beirut to serve his sentence.
    Like Berlusconi, Dell'Utri claims he is the victim of a witch hunt by leftist magistrates.