The European Court of Human Rights on Tuesday struck out Silvio Berlusconi’s challenge of an Italian law that bans him from holding public office over a tax fraud conviction.
Berlusconi had argued that an Italian law that bans anyone who is sentenced to more than two years in prison from holding public office for six years contravenes human rights law.
The former premier was found guilty of tax fraud in 2012 and received a four-year prison sentence. He was disqualified from standing for election for six years from August 1, 2013 — the date on which his conviction became final — and as a result had to give up his senate seat, which he won in an election earlier that year.
Berlusconi appealed the ban to the Strasbourg court, arguing it breaches the human rights principles of lawfulness, foreseeability, proportionality and non-retroactive application of criminal penalties.
But in July 2018, Berlusconi told the Strasbourg court that he no longer wishes to pursue the case, after an Italian court ruled in May that he was again eligible for office because of good conduct.