Italy’s former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi had several health problems and was in and out of hospital a lot in recent years. Several Italian media reported on Monday that Berlusconi had died. On Wednesday evening, the news came that he was admitted to hospital in Milan with breathing difficulties. According to several Italian media, the former prime minister had blood cancer. Berlusconi was Prime Minister of Italy for a total of nine years, divided into three periods. In the post-war period, no other prime minister has held the seat for so long. Businessman Berlusconi was born in Milan in 1936. He studied law in his hometown, and first worked as a property broker, before starting several property companies. In the 1970s and 1980s, he established himself as a businessman and media owner before entering politics in the 1990s. Among other things, he built up the media group Mediaset, which owns several of the largest media in Italy. Berlusconi was also for many years the majority owner of the football club AC Milan in his hometown of Milan. Silvio Berlusconi owned the football club AC Milan for many years. From then on, the team won the Champions League final in 2007. Photo: PHIL NOBLE / REUTERS Entering politics At the start of the 1990s, several established politicians and political parties in Italy were hit by a corruption scandal. Before the parliamentary elections in 1994, Berlusconi formed the Forza Italia party, which became the largest party with 21 percent of the vote. Berlusconi became prime minister for the first time, but he had to leave eight months later due to disagreements within the government. In 2001 he became prime minister for the second time. This time he was allowed to sit for five years. Before that there were three new years from 2008 to 2011. He also stood as a candidate for prime minister in 2013, but his popularity was falling sharply. His party went into government, but Berlusconi himself did not become part of the government. In 2022, Silvio Berlusconi was launched as a presidential candidate in Italy, but only received support from parties on the right. Two days before the vote, Berlusconi resigned because he thought it was better that a person with wider support was elected. Photo: ANDREAS SOLARO / AFP Controversy Although Berlusconi was at times a popular politician in Italy, he was also very controversial. Among other things, he was charged with corruption and financial crime. In 2012, Berlusconi was sentenced to four years in prison and banned from political office for five years due to tax fraud linked to the media company Mediaset, which Berlusconi and his family owned. Silvio Berlusconi had to appear in court several times for, among other things, financial crime and abuse of power. Here from the Mediaset court case. Photo: ALESSANDRO GAROFALO / Reuters The following year, he was sentenced to seven years in prison for abuse of power and sexual intercourse with a minor. But he was later acquitted in a higher court for these debts. In 2013, Berlusconi was elected to the National Assembly, but later in the year it was decided that he could not continue as a senator due to the judgment from 2012. This decision was revoked in 2018.
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Silvio Berlusconi (86) is dead – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
