Berlusconi bids to reverse office ban

Former premier Silvio Berlusconi is turning to Europe’s human rights court in a bid to avoid a ban on public office and other punishments for his tax fraud conviction, the media mogul’s aides said yesterday.

The politician and media magnate was found guilty of artificially inflating the amounts paid for film rights by his Mediaset empire to reduce the company’s tax liabilities. Berlusconi claims he is an innocent victim of magistrates who sympathise with the left, but the verdict was upheld by Italy’s top criminal court last month.

His top aide, Angelino Alfano, said the petition to the Strasbourg, France-based tribunal “shows the Berlusconi case isn’t closed”.