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Good behavior is the reason why Italian former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi has ended his one-year social duties for a tax fraud verdict earlier than planned, but experts say this will likely not be enough to allow him running for political office again.
"A judge in Milan has ruled that Berlusconi could end helping the elderly and the disabled 45 days earlier because of his good behavior," Peter Gomez, co-founder and columnist of Il Fatto Quotidiano newspaper, explained to Xinhua.
Berlusconi had been sentenced to jail in 2013 for inflating prices in the purchase of movie rights for his media company. But the three-time premier and media mogul, 78, was too old to go to jail under Italian legal practice, thus the punishment was commuted to performing social work once a week for a year.
Berlusconi, who is still the leader of Forza Italia (FI), his center-right opposition party in parliament, entered a non-profit facility near his hometown Milan for the first time last May.
Earlier this year the judge, Beatrice Crosti, said Berlusconi not only behaved "in a serious way that was appreciated by the facility's workers," but also formally apologized with Italian judges for making accusations against them.
As a result of Crosti's ruling, Friday was the last day of social service.
The time spent at the facility was a "touching experience," Berlusconi said in a statement, adding that he intended to continue his commitment to serve in this capacity.
"Well, this is a good promise. If it is not Berlusconi to do a lot of charity work, who else should do it?" Giancarlo Valsecchi, an artisan in Milan, told Xinhua, referring to the wealth of the former Italian leader, one of the richest men in Italy.
"My wife and I supported Berlusconi at the beginning of his political career in the 1990s as we believed he could do many things for Italy. But then he totally disappointed us," Valsecchi said. "If he is now able to entertain the elderly, it is a good thing. I heard he brought them a lot of pastries. Moreover, he can realize by helping the others that life is not only made by power and pretty girls."
"If Berlusconi has been rewarded because of his good behavior, the punishment was evidently useful," another citizen in Milan, Luigi Serravalle, told Xinhua.
"But I do not think there will be any other chance for Berlusconi to hold political office," Serravalle, who is a company manager, added.
In fact Berlusconi having finished serving his social work term does not mean that he will likely be able to run for Italian government or parliament, Gomez went on explaining to Xinhua. Berlusconi has been banned from holding public office until 2019 based on a law adopted by the government of then prime minister Mario Monti in 2013, he said.
In principle, Gomez elaborated, based on Italian law Berlusconi may obtain "rehabilitation" - meaning good behavior combined with a declaration that his verdict has become extinct - and become able to run for elections in the spring of 2018.
"But in practice Berlusconi's re-election is not likely to happen given his many legal troubles," he noted.
"Next Tuesday, Italy's supreme court will decide whether Berlusconi's Ruby trial has to be run again," Piero Colaprico, an author and political columnist of la Repubblica newspaper, explained about the case involving an under-aged Moroccan prostitute who went by the alias Ruby Heartstealer.
Last year, a Milan appeal court acquitted Berlusconi from charges of paying for sex with Ruby Heartstealer and then abusing his power to cover it up.
In addition, Colaprico told Xinhua, an investigation connected to the Ruby case is being carried out over whether he paid witnesses to give false testimony. And another trial has also been started on Berlusconi allegedly bribing former senators to change political sides.
The tax fraud verdict was Berlusconi's first final guilty conviction in some 20 years of legal fights. Enditem
