Judge rules Berlusconi may do ‘social service’

A Milan judge has agreed that former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi may serve his one-year sentence for tax fraud by doing some kind of "social service" rather than being under house arrest.

Another court must confirm yesterday’s ruling within five days, but legal experts expect it to uphold the decision of state prosecutor Antonio Lamanna.

Yesterday's hearing was required to decide how Mr Berlusconi would serve out his sentence, handed down last June when a Milan court ruled he had organised tax fraud by his Mediaset television company.

Because Mr Berlusconi is 77, there was no possibility he would serve a prison sentence, so the court had to decide between “social services” and “house arrest”.

Mr Berlusconi believes that if he is called on to do some sort of “social service” once a week, perhaps even at an old people’s home, then he can still play a role in Forza Italia’s European election campaign.

Under house arrest, his movements would be greatly curtailed given that he would require special permission (not always granted) from the judiciary every time he wanted to leave his home.

European elections
Mr Berlusconi was expelled from the Italian senate because of the Mediaset sentence, so he cannot run in the European elections. But he has made it clear he intends to canvass on behalf of his party.

In recent days Mr Berlusconi has reportedly told party members that he will “set all hell loose” if the “judicial arm of the centre-left tries to keep me out of the election campaign”.

Many observers believe that, without the support of Forza Italia, Italian prime minister Matteo Renzi's cross-party coalition government will have little chance of implementing an ambitious series of constitutional, electoral and labour reforms, due to be introduced in the next two months.