Supreme Court upholds political ban on former Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi [WATCH]

Italy's supreme Court of Cassation upheld a tax-fraud conviction against ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi Thursday, making a four-year prison sentence definitive. It is the first time Berlusconi has received a definitive conviction after over two dozen criminal cases since the media magnate embarked on a political career two decades ago.

The court suspended a five-year ban on Berlusconi holding public office, sending this part of the punishment back to the Milan appeals court for review. State prosecutors have requested be reduced to three years earlier this week.

Berlusconi's lawyers had asked the country's top criminal court to overturn his conviction for tax fraud.

It took the Judges at Rome's Court of Cassation hours to decide whether to uphold a one-year jail sentence and political ban.

On Tuesday prosecutors pressed the panel to cut a ban on public office from five to three years.

The three-time premier and senator faced house arrest or community service rather than prison because he is 76.

When Berlusconi was convicted in October of last year, he was sentenced to four years in prison but this was automatically reduced to one under a 2006 pardon law.

His Mediaset media empire raised the price of film distribution rights artificially high, to avoid incurring a higher tax bill, the original ruling said. Mr Berlusconi was labelled the "author of a whole system of tax fraud".

As head of the centre-right Freedom People (PdL) party, the main partner in centre-left prime minister Enrico Letta's government, Berlusconi is still capable of bringing down the coalition by withdrawing his support, should the moment suit him.

Many PDL supporters have vowed to hold public protests if the judges do not rule in his favour. Some hardliners even promised to block Italian motorways.

A 2010 Italian constitutional court ruling on a statute of limitations opened the way for a string of trials involving Berlusconi.

In an interview with the rightwing Libero newspaper on Sunday, which was subsequently dismissed by Berlusconi's entourage as an informal conversation, the billionaire media tycoon said he was optimistic the judges would acquit him. But if they did not, he added, with trademark bombast, he would dare them to put him behind bars.

"I will not go into exile like Bettino Craxi was forced to," he was quoted as saying, referring to Italy's disgraced former prime minister - and friend of Berlusconi - who fled to Tunisia and died in exile. "I will also not accept being handed over to social services, like a criminal that has to be re-educated," he said. "If they convict me, if they take on that responsibility, I'll go to jail."

Berlusconi has always denied the tax fraud charges, which date back more than a decade and are in connection with the purchase of broadcasting rights by his television empire, Mediaset.

He claims he is the victim of a persecution by a leftwing cabal of magistrates and blames them for his other legal travails, including the so-called Rubygate trial, in which he was found guilty last month of paying for sex with an underage prostitute and abusing his office to cover it up. He denies the charges and is appealing against the ruling.

Angry Reaction

Following the court's decleration, Berlusconi broadcast an angry video message in which the former Prime Minister said he was the innocent victim of "an incredible series of accusations and trials that had nothing to do with reality".

The ruling by Rome's Court of Cassation, against which he cannot appeal, came after a three-day hearing. Berlusconi was not in court.

In an emotional nine-minute video, Berlusconi denounced the decision as "based on nothing, and which deprives me of my freedom and political rights".

"No-one can understand the veritable violence which has been reserved for me through a series of charges and trials that had no basis in reality," he said.

He described the more that 50 court cases he has faced as "genuine judicial harassment that is unmatched in the civilised world".

"In exchange for the commitments I have made over almost 20 years in favour of my country and coming almost at the end of my public life, I have been rewarded with accusations and a verdict that is founded on absolutely nothing, that takes away my personal freedom and my political rights."

He criticised the country's judicial record, saying: "Is this the Italy that we want? Is this the Italy that we love? Absolutely not."