Italy Senate expels former premier

The Italian Senate on Wednesday expelled three-time ex-Premier Silvio Berlusconi from Parliament over his tax fraud conviction, ending his two-decade legislative run for now, but not his political career.

Berlusconi has warned that the unprecedented move would embarrass Italy internationally, and he maintained his defiance even as the Senate voted, addressing a cheering crowd outside of his Roman palazzo a short walk away.

“We are here on a bitter day, a day of mourning for democracy,” Berlusconi declared.

Even though he won’t hold a seat in Parliament for at least six years, the 77-year-old Berlusconi pledged to remain involved in politics and urged his followers not to despair — noting that other political leaders are not lawmakers. He has relaunched his Forza Italia party, and he still commands millions of loyal supporters.

“Also from outside the Parliament, we can continue to fight for our liberty,” he said, citing the founder of the 5 Star Movement, Beppe Grillo, who is not a lawmaker, and Matteo Renzi, the Florence mayor who is a Democratic Party star widely tipped as a future premier candidate.

Supporters, including Berlusconi’s 28-year-old girlfriend, who had a Forza Italia flag wrapped around her shoulders against the cold, were treated to a video montage of Berlusconi’s greatest political hits from a career that began in 1994 when he first came into power with a political party named for a soccer chant, “Let’s Go Italy.”

“For us, he will always be there,” Marilda Antonello said as she held a banner reading, “The law is not equal for everyone. Sick justice.”

“He is our only leader. He is the only man who can take Italy forward,” she said.

The Senate vote on whether to remove Berlusconi from the chamber stems from a 2012 law that bans anyone sentenced to more than two years in prison from holding or running for public office for six years. His lawyers claim the law is unconstitutional and have questioned why the rush to expel him while legal challenges are pending.

Italy’s high court on Aug. 1 upheld Berlusconi’s tax fraud conviction and four-year prison term stemming from his Mediaset empire’s purchase of television rights to U.S. films.

The prison term was reduced automatically to one year under a general amnesty; he will serve his time either under house arrest or through public service.

Berlusconi claims he didn’t receive a fair trial and that the judges were biased and out to “eliminate” him from public office.