Berlusconi says he won’t be candidate for PM in next poll

Earlier today

I’m back: Silvio Berlusconi’s post-conviction about-turn

Former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi said today he felt “obliged” to stay in politics to reform the justice system,the day after he was found guilty of tax fraud and sentenced to a year in prison.

“There are going to be consequences,” he told TG5,one of the television stations he owns,after branding yesterday’s verdict an “intolerable” political ruling.

“I feel obliged to stay in the (political) field to reform the planet justice,” he said today.

The 76-year-old three-time premier had announced on on Wednesday that he would not run in the next election due in the spring but did not say he was withdrawing completely from political life.

“I will not be presenting my candidacy but I will remain at the side of younger people who can play and score goals,” he said.

Two days later he was sentenced to four years in prison for tax fraud,a term reduced to one year thanks to an amnesty,and banned from holding public office for five years.

Berlusconi’s reaction was defiant.

“This is an incredible and intolerable political sentence. This is no doubt a political verdict,as political as all trials fabricated against me,” he said.

The sentence will not come into effect until appeals have been heard by two higher courts. By that time the statute of limitations will probably have kicked in.

His lawyers have said they will file an appeal next month.