Berlusconi jailed and banned from office

An Italian court sentenced Silvio Berlusconi to seven years in jail and banned the former premier from public office after convicting him of paying for sex with an underage prostitute and abuse of power.

The judges handed down a sentence that went beyond the request of prosecutors, who had called for the 76-year-old billionaire to serve six years.

The sentence is “completely illogical. The judges even went beyond the prosecutors’ request”, Berlusconi’s lawyer Niccolo Ghedini told journalists after the verdict was read out.