Italian judge sentences former PM Berlusconi to community service for tax fraud

MILAN, Italy, April 15 (UPI) -- Italian former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was sentenced to community service Tuesday after a court found him guilty of tax fraud more than eight months earlier.

Berlusconi was originally given a four year sentence for tax fraud at his Mediaset mass media company, but the sentence term was commuted to a year in August 2013.

The judge released a statement Tuesday that Berlusconi would perform community service at a retirement home run by the Sacred Family Foundation near Milan "once a week and for a period of no less than four consecutive hours."

The 77-year-old former premier's attorneys were pleased with the sentencing, deeming it "balanced and satisfactory."

The former prime minister is also prohibited from holding public office for two years.

[The Guardian]