Milan court sets 2-year Berlusconi political ban

Former Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi poses for photographers on the occasion of the inauguration of the new headquarters of his "Forza Italia" (Go Italy) party, in Rome, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2013. Berlusconi inaugurated his party headquarters a day after a Senate committee refused to back a recommendation by one of his lawmakers that Berlusconi keep his Senate seat as a 2012 law bans anyone sentenced to more than two years in prison from holding or running for public office for six years. This summer Italy's top criminal court upheld Berlusconi's conviction and four-year sentence for tax fraud. The full Senate must eventually decide if he keeps is Senate seat. (AP Photo/Massimo Percossi, pool)

MILAN — A Milan appeals court has set Italian ex-Premier Silvio Berlusconi's political ban in his tax fraud conviction at two years.

The court was ordered by Italy's highest court to determine the length of the political ban accompanying his tax fraud conviction and four-year jail term after prosecutors conceded errors in the original five-year ban.

Berlusconi already is facing the loss of his Senate seat after losing his final appeal in the tax fraud conviction this summer under a 2012 law stipulating that anyone convicted to more than two years in prison cannot hold or run for office for six years.

The political bans face parliamentary approval. A Senate committee has approved yanking his seat based on the 2012 law, but a vote by the whole chamber is pending.

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