Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has been sentenced to a year in prison over the publication of an illegally acquired wiretap in his brother’s newspaper.
Berlusconi can still appeal the ruling and it is unlikely that he will actually have to go to jail for this case. However, the ruling has done even further damage to his reputation.
Berlusconi is currently appealing a tax-fraud verdict sentence of four years in prison for tax evasion.
He also faces an outcome of a sex trial later in March. He allegedly paid for sex with an underage prostitute known as “Ruby the Heartbreaker” when she was 17 years old.
In 2011, he was forced to resign from his Prime Minister role due to his scandals, but he has since run in the recent national elections.
Silvio Berlusconi’s other trials
1. Accused of paying for sex with an underage prostitute: Verdict due in late March.
2. Two other corruption cases involving tax evasion and bribery of a British lawyer: Expired under statute of limitations.
3. Accused of tax-fraud over contracts his firm, Mediaset, made to buy TV rights to U.S. films: Convicted in October 2012; appeal verdict due in mid-March.
