The prosecutor who asked a Milan
court to let Silvio Berlusconi serve a 10-month sentence for tax
fraud doing community service has warned that the ex-premier
will be put under house arrest instead if he defames
magistrates, reports said Friday.
The ruling on what kind of punishment the center-right
leader will receive, which is expected within the next two
weeks, will be key in determining what role Berlusconi will play
in the coming year.
If he has to do house arrest, it would seriously curb his
ability to lead his center-right opposition Forza Italia (FI)
party ahead of May 25 European elections, a key test for it.
The choice is between house arrest or community service as
the charismatic 77-year-old is too old to go to jail under
standard Italian legal practice.
The media magnate has repeatedly blasted judges in the
past.
He says the tax-fraud ruling, which led to him being
ejected from the Senate in November, is part of a two-decade
campaign by left-wing elements in the judiciary to sweep him out
of Italy's public life.
On Wednesday he complained that the left had used its
"judicial arm" to stop him running in the European elections.
Lamanna reportedly told the court that, under standing
legislation, community service "can be revoked" if the
three-time premier defames "individual judges".
If Berlusconi is allowed to do community service, he would
likely be free to be out and about from 8 am until 11 pm,
judicial sources said Friday.
The sources said that in "standard" cases in which a
convict is ordered to serve a sentence doing community service,
judges give few limits to freedom of movement and action and
Berlusconi would probably only need to seek permission to leave
the Lombardy region around Milan or neighboring regions.
Berlusconi has already had his passport confiscated.
On Thursday Berlusconi's defence team asked the court for
him to be able to campaign for FI for the European elections,
which he cannot vote in as a result of the conviction.
Berlusconi was sentenced to four years in prison in the
tax-fraud case, but only 10 months of that remain to be served
as the rest was covered by amnesties.
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