Italy’s Berlusconi reacts angrily to court ruling

(Vatican Radio) Former Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi has reacted furiously to a supreme court ruling confirming a prison sentence for tax fraud. Tracey McClure reports:
The Court of Cassation upheld a lower court's conviction of Berlusconi for the fraudulent purchase of broadcasting rights by his Mediaset television empire.

Thursday’s ruling is the first definitive sentence Berlusconi has received after dozens of
previous trials on charges ranging from tax to sex offences.
In a video message on Italian television following the decision, an angry Berlusconi denied ever having evaded taxes and said he had been persecuted by magistrates ever since his entry into politics two decades ago.

Berlusconi: "No one can understand the real violence which has been directed against me - A genuine campaign of aggression that has no equal,"

At 76, Berlusconi is unlikely to have to serve any time in jail because of his age, and the supreme court ordered part of the original sentence, imposing a ban on holding political office, to be reviewed.