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Italy court upholds Berlusconi tax fraud conviction | Italy court upholds Berlusconi tax fraud conviction |
(35 minutes later) | |
An appeals court in Italy has upheld the conviction for tax fraud of former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. | |
The court also reinstated a four-year prison sentence and five-year ban from public office he was handed in October. | |
Mr Berlusconi was convicted of artificially inflating prices of film distribution rights bought by his company, Mediaset, to avoid taxes. | |
He is now expected to appeal against Wednesday's ruling at Italy's highest court, the Court of Cassation. | |
The 76 year old has denied the charges and said they are politically motivated. | |
But instead of overturning October's verdict, the appeals court in Milan upheld Mr Berlusconi's conviction for tax evasion and re-instated the original jail sentence. The term had been cut to one year because of his age. | |
Mr Berlusconi, whose People of Freedom (PdL) party is part of Italy's new coalition government, is now likely to appeal to the Court of Cassation, the BBC's Alan Johnston in Rome reports. | |
The former prime minister is also currently on trial for having sex with an underage prostitute, and abuse of power. | |
Mr Berlusconi has gone before a court a number of times before but he has in the past either been cleared, or cases have run beyond the statute of limitations. |