Berlusconi gets one-year prison term for wiretap leaks

An Italian court sentenced ex-prime minister Silvio Berlusconi to one year in jail over the publication by his family’s newspaper of a transcript of a leaked wiretap connected to a banking scandal in 2006.

Italian justice system rules mean the 76-year-old media billionaire would not have to serve any jail time until the appeals process has been exhausted, and a higher court may still overturn the ruling.

It came in the middle of a political impasse arising from last week’s election which left no party able to form a government on its own, although Berlusconi’s centre-right formation emerged as the second strongest in parliament.