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| Ex-Italy PM Silvio Berlusconi jail term confirmed | Ex-Italy PM Silvio Berlusconi jail term confirmed |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Italy's supreme court has upheld the prison sentence given to ex-Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi for tax fraud. | Italy's supreme court has upheld the prison sentence given to ex-Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi for tax fraud. |
| However, the court ordered a review of a five-year ban on public office that was part of the sentence. | However, the court ordered a review of a five-year ban on public office that was part of the sentence. |
| Berlusconi faces house arrest or community service instead of going to jail because of his age - he is 76. | |
| His lawyers had asked judges at Rome's Court of Cassation to overturn a one-year jail sentence and political ban. | His lawyers had asked judges at Rome's Court of Cassation to overturn a one-year jail sentence and political ban. |
| When Berlusconi was convicted in October last year, he was sentenced to four years in prison but this was automatically reduced to one under a 2006 pardon law. | |
| The supreme court's ruling came after a three-day hearing. | |
| The judicial review of the five-year ban from public office will enable Berlusconi to remain as a senator and as leader of his centre-right People of Freedom Party (PDL) for the moment. | |
| The PDL is part of Italy's coalition government. | |
| The BBC's Alan Johnston in Rome says Berlusconi remains an influential figure and there are concerns that a political ban could threaten the stability of the government. | |
| The original ruling said that his Mediaset media empire had raised the price of film distribution rights artificially high, to avoid incurring a higher tax bill. | |
| Berlusconi was labelled the "author of a whole system of tax fraud". | |
| The three-time prime minister and senator has faced a string of court cases. | |
| Appeals are pending in other cases in which he was convicted of having paid for sex with an underage prostitute and arranging for a police wiretap to be leaked and published in a newspaper. | |
| He accuses magistrates from his home city of Milan of pursuing a "vendetta" against him. |