The Wall Street Journal is reporting Italy’s former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi has been found guilty of paying for sex with an underage woman and then using the powers of his office to cover it up.
He has been sentenced to seven years jail time and is “banned for life from public office.”
Berlusconi has the right to two appeals, and his attorneys are already working on the first of these. But even if they lose on both, it is unlikely the former prime minister will actually see jail time as “Italian law allows for house arrest of those over 70.”
The former prime minister currently holds a seat in the Senate, where he “heads the center-right” People of Freedom Party.
The case against Berlusconi arose from a May 2010 phone call in which he phoned Milan police about an underage Moroccan woman they had in custody. The woman’s stage name was “Ruby Heart-Stealer.” Prosecutors say Berlusconi “pressed police to release the woman, thus constituting an abuse of power.”
Berlusconi is also appealing a ruling against him on tax fraud at this time.
Follow AWR Hawkins on Twitter @AWRHawkins
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.