OME – Out of Parliament. The final verdict, after months of political tension and discussion on the item, arrived: the three-time ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi was ejected from the Senate, after a tax-fraud conviction.
It was the most followed political event in Italy of all time on social networks (250,000 hits on both Facebook and Twitter in less than 9 hours). But also it was the main headlines in global news media. “Berlusconi expelled from Senate in Italy” was the one-column New York Times headline. CNN talked about Berlusconi as the “Italy’s most colourful political figure” and asked: “Is this the end for Il Cavaliere?”.
The event generated more hits, headlines and posts than when the supreme Cassation Court sentenced him in August, which enacted the vote for his Senate ouster.
Berlusconi expulsion from Parliament was the most followed political event in Italy of all time, on social networks and on world media
Berlusconi expulsion from Parliament was the most followed political event in Italy of all time, on social networks and on world media
The 77-year-old politician was sentenced to four years in jail for the tax-fraud sentence (he was convicted in October 2012 over deals his firm Mediaset made to purchase tv rights to U.S. films), commuted to a year because of an amnesty. He has requested to serve the year by doing community service rather than under house arrest. He is expected to begin serving his sentence next year for the tax fraud conviction, which related to a complex system of illegally inflated invoices at his Mediaset television empire. But this will not be the end of his legal woes.
Among other matters, he has been ordered to stand trial on charges of bribing a senator in an attempt to bring down Romano Prodi’s government, a one-year sentence for involvement in the publication of an illegally obtained wiretap and is appealing against a seven-year sentence, that is a first-grade conviction handed down in June, for having sex with an underage girl and abusing his office to cover it up. The media magnate, who is too old to actually go to jail under Italian law, denies the allegations in all cases. However, he could now face arrest over other criminal cases as he has lost his immunity from prosecution.
Berlusconi was not present for the Senate vote.
Meanwhile he was suffering the heaviest blow of his 20 years political career, outside his residence in central Rome (where the previuos day he met Russian president Putin), he gave a defiant address to his supporters declaring a “day of mourning for democracy” and promising that he would remain on the political scene, even if out of Parliament.
After having dominated politics for 20 years, he wants to continue to lead his Forza Italia party in a “fight for the good of Italy”. Even if, just during the days before the vote, his party divided in two groups and his dolphin, Angelino Alfano who is the vice premier in the government coalition guided by premier Enrico Letta’s centre-left Democratic Party, became the leader of the opposite movement.
Alfano, however, still said he loved Berlusconi and opposed his expulsion: “It is an ugly day for Parliament and for Italy. Parliament has expelled a man millions had voted for” Alfano said.
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