Silvio Berlusconi, Ex-Italy PM, Forced To Do Community Service In Nursing Home


Silvio Berlusconi, former prime minister of Italy, will soon be seen sweeping corridors and feeding the elderly, as a Milan court orders the disgraced country chief to carry his community service in a nursing home in Cesano Boscone outside Milan.

Berlusconi will be assisting the staff and residents of the Sacred Family Foundation, Fondazione Sacra Famiglia. The house was founded in 1896 and offers to help those “with psychophysical disabilities and the non self-sufficient elderly.”

Berlusconi’s lawyers described the ruling as “balanced and satisfactory”. Franco Coppi and Niccolo Ghedini, who have been Berlusconi’s legal counsel since his tax fraud charges came out, welcomed the Milan court decision.

According to them, aside from carrying out tasks inside the nursing home, Berlusconi will also have certain travel limitations. He will be allowed to visit Rome from Tuesdays to Thursdays but will not be permitted to exit the northern Lombardy region, where he has declared his primary residence.

Berlusconi will also be prohibited from running for office for two years. According to BBC, Berlusconi was ousted from the Italian parliament last November for tax fraud troubles.

The lawyers for Berlusconi told CNN that Berlusconi will be serving his punishment in the coming days.

Originally given a four-year sentence for tax fraud, Berlusconi was able to have it reduced to just a year. As a leader for the conservative Forza Italia party, Berlusconi has remained an influential political figure among the Italian elite despite a downfall in popularity among the common citizens.

Current prime minister Matteo Renzi was even reported to have welcomed Berlusconi for an intimate dinner last Monday at the Palazzo Chigi, the prime minister’s official residence in Rome.

Silvio Berlusconi remains president of the Christian-conservative party, which hosts influential political figures in Italy and continues to penetrate policy making discussions in the country.

A businessman by trade, Berlusconi made his fortune in construction and media. In 1994, he began making sounds in the Italian political circles, but was defeated in his first try against veteran politican Romano Prodi in 1996. Silvio has been on and off the prime minister’s seat during the past two decades and have established his name as an authority in Italian politics.

Berlusconi is one of the most vocal allies of Russia’s Putin. He also had close ties with Libya’s dead dictator Muammar Gaddafi.

Aside from tax fraud, Silvio has acquired quite a lengthy list of criminal allegations, including abuse of office, mafia collusion, and even child sexual abuse.

Does Silvio Berlusconi deserve his punishment?

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