ROME — A court in Italy has ruled that former three-time premier Silvio Berlusconi is eligible to run for office again, nearly five years after a tax fraud conviction forced him to surrender his Senate seat and prevented him from being a candidate in national elections. A Milan court has rehabilitated media magnate and former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, releasing him from his “lifetime ban” on holding public office and paving the way for a possible return to active politics. “The ‘rehabilitation’ by the Milan Surveillance Court puts an end to a judicial persecution and a cavalry that didn’t chip away at the strength of great leadership, that, in a profoundly changed political scenario, is today still fundamental and central.”

Milan Prosecutor General Roberto Alfonso said prosecutors have 15 days to decide if they will appeal the tribunal’s decision. Italy will hold general elections on March 4, and Berlusconi, as leader of the Forza Italia party, has brokered a right-wing alliance with the neo-fascist Brothers of Italy party and the anti-immigrant Northern League. President Sergio Mattarella said Monday that if Italy’s bickering political leaders can’t form a government soon, he would appoint a non-political premier to govern until the end of the year at the latest.
A court in Milan lifts the consequences of Silvio Berlusconi's 2013 tax evasion sentence. He is now allowed to participate in elections again.