Former premier Silvio Berlusconi is on
the mend after suffering a bout of severe 'long COVID' symptoms,
the no.2 in his centre-right Forza Italia (FI) party,
ex-European Parliament president Antonio Tajani, said Thursday.
An interview to his Il Giornale newspaper Wednesday in which he
"broached all the major pending issues" showed the media
mogul-turned-politician was feeling better and was as ever
essential to the centre right, Tajani said.
Berlusconi, 84, who had a heart valve replaced in 2016, said his
experience with COVID last September was "the worst and most
frightening in my life".
The three-time former premier and media mogul caught the virus
in Sardinia from his friend and fellow billionaire businessman,
ex-Benetton and Renault F1 boss Flavio Briatore.
The Mediaset empire owner spent a week in hospital last month
with a fever due to a COVID vaccination and the lingering
effects of his bout of the virus, and has been reported as still
being seriously ill even after he left the Milan clinic.
Milan prosecutors have requested that Berlusconi's
case in the so-called Ruby Ter and bunga bunga perjury trial be
separated from those of other defendants because the ex-premier
is "seriously ill".
But last week a Milan judge turned down the bid despite appeals
from both the defence and prosecution.
All defendants will go forward together, the judge ruled, with
the next hearing being on September 8.
The defence said that the ex-PM's health conditions continued to
be "severe" and he faced "a not brief prognosis" due to long
COVID.
The prosecution also said the media mogul had
"pluri-pathologies", was in a "chronic" state, and was suffering
psychiatric and neurological symptoms that merited "attention"
from the court.
But Tajani told journalists Thursday: "As you have seen, he is
better, yesterday he g ave a wide-ranging interview where the
put Forza Italia back at the centre of the political debate. He
is slowly recovering, he still has to be looked after at home
for a few days, but he has restarted his political activity".
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