Following the complicated legal controversies involving the former Prime Minister of Italy, an Italian court has finally ruled Silvio Berlusconi free of any political bans. Berlusconi had been dominating the Italian politics for a long time before he was convicted of a tax fraud in 2013. He had been sentenced to a four-year term in prison, effectively placing the Severino Law upon himself.
The Severino Law prevents anyone who has been sentenced to a jail term of more than two years from participating in the nation’s politics ever again. However, the Court of Milan revoked this law on Berlusconi on the 11th of May, effectively granting him rehabilitation and allowing him to run as the Prime Minister for Italy again.
Roberto Alfonso, the chief prosecutor of Milan, gave a statement to the ANSA stating that he was still in peril regarding the acceptance or challenging of the court’s decision. Alfonso explained that his team would read and evaluate the written decision thoroughly once the letter reached the Public Prosecutor’s Office in Milan.
Silvio Berlusconi has maintained the post of Prime Minister under four Italian governments, for a total of nine years. This feat had officially given him the title of maintaining the leader’s post longer than anyone else since the reign of Benito Mussolini in 1922. Ever since Berlusconi’s inauguration in 1994, he has been charged 22 times for complaints ranging from bribery to tax evasion to corruption, along with suspicions of being involved with the Cosa Nostra. Despite being sentenced to jail many times during the court hearings, Silvio Berlusconi had never been arrested. His prison sentences had always been reduced to mere community services due to a tradition in Italy where senior citizens are not usually sentenced to prison.