UK Edition
British lawyers fight to overturn Berlusconi's ban on holding public office, paving way for political resurrection
Lawyers from Amal Clooney’s chambers in London are fighting to have Silvio Berlusconi’s ban on holding public office overturned, a move that would pave the way for him to stand as prime minister of Italy once again.
The British lawyers could be instrumental in engineering the return of the disgraced politician, who achieved worldwide notoriety with his “bunga bunga” sex parties, tax fraud convictions and alleged links to the Sicilian mafia.
Despite his many travails, a centre-Right coalition led by 81-year-old Mr Berlusconi won regional elections in Sicily earlier this month and could clinch power at the next general election, which will be held in the Spring.
Three experts in international human rights law from Doughty Street Chambers in London will appear before the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg next week.
Edward Fitzgerald QC, Steven Powles and Professor Andrea Saccucci, an Italian expert on human rights law, will argue that the ban on the media mogul, which will only expire in 2019, is unfair and should be lifted.
Mr Berlusconi was banned from public office after being convicted of tax fraud in 2012. He was sentenced to four years behind bars, later commuted to a year of community service, which he performed in an old people’s home.
A law passed after his conviction, known as the Severino Decree after the justice minister who drew it up, ruled that anyone sentenced to more than two years in jail should be prevented from holding public office for at least six years.
The former prime minister’s lawyers will argue that Italy violated European legislation by applying the law retroactively, imposing a harsher penalty than was applicable at the time that the crimes were committed.
The case, formally listed as “Berlusconi v Italy”, will be put to the court’s Grand Chamber, which consists of 17 judges and is reserved for cases that are particularly complex and important.
Laying out the case, the British lawyers will tell the court that Mr Berlusconi has been stripped of his “democratic mandate”, despite still commanding substantial political support in Italy.
“It is anticipated that Italy’s next general election will take place in March 2018. Notwithstanding the considerable support Mr Berlusconi enjoys amongst the Italian electorate, the Severino Decree prohibits him from standing in that election.
“It will be argued before the Grand Chamber on Mr Berlusconi’s behalf that the Severino Decree is a retroactive penalty in violation of Article 7 of the European Convention of Human Rights,” the London-based lawyers will argue.
“Moreover, the decision to strip Mr Berlusconi was taken by Parliament. The process was governed by no accessible criteria and as a result was open to political manipulation and abuse. In Mr Berlusconi’s case it seems clear that such political manipulation dictated the result.”
Mr Berlusconi was forced to resign as prime minister in 2011 after becoming mired in tawdry “bunga bunga” sex scandals involving teenage belly dancers and escorts, as well as accusations that he mismanaged Italy’s affairs at the height of the global financial crisis.
But the election result in Sicily was a remarkable political comeback – a coalition of his Forza Italia party, the anti-immigration Northern League and a third Right-wing party, won 40 per cent of the vote.
In an interview this week, he told an Italian newspaper: “I hope the Strasbourg court will make a decision in time for the elections. It would be hugely controversial if I’m not granted justice in time for the vote.
"Either way, whether I’m able to be a candidate or not, I will be campaigning with all my passion. Sicily showed us that a good centre-Right candidate can win if he is supported by a broad coalition.”
While Amal Clooney is Doughty Street Chamber’s most high-profile lawyer, she is not involved in the Berlusconi case.
But her husband, George Clooney, has met Mr Berlusconi, describing the encounter as "one of the more astonishing evenings of my life."
The Hollywood star went to Rome in 2008 to talk to the then prime minister about the possibility of Italy sending helicopters to Darfur in Sudan to help with relief efforts.
Mr Berlusconi was more interested in inviting him to a party and showing him a double bed which Vladimir Putin had given him as a gift.
"I've had one evening with Berlusconi and it was one of the more astonishing evenings of my life," Mr Clooney told Time magazine in a video interview.
"I went to speak about Darfur. I'd done all my homework. (Afterwards) he took me to see his bedroom and the bed that Putin had given him. There are so many jokes, there's so little time."
As Mr Berlusconi prays for a favourable outcome in the Strasbourg court, he scored a victory in a court closer to home.
A tribunal in Milan ruled on Thursday that he has paid too much alimony to his ex-wife and that she must pay him back 60 million euros.
The former premier had insisted that Veronica Lario, with whom he had three children, was wealthy enough to support herself. He has been paying her alimony since 2014.