The Italian Senate expelled Silvio Berlusconi from parliament following his conviction for tax fraud, in what the centre-right leader called a day of mourning for Italian democracy.
The Senate speaker declared he was ineligible for a seat in parliament after the house rejected a series of challenges by Berlusconi’s supporters to a proposal for his expulsion. No formal vote was held.
Berlusconi was sentenced in August to four years in prison, commuted to a year under house arrest or in community service, for masterminding an illegal scheme to reduce the tax bill of his media company Mediaset.
Source: Buenos Aires Herald