Berlusconi kept in hospital over eye complaint

Published on 10/03/2013 02:21

FORMER Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi, left, remains in hospital with an eye inflammation that kept him from both his sex-for-hire trial and tax fraud appeals.

San Raffaele hospital’s chief ophthalmologist, Francesco Bandello, said yesterday that Berlusconi’s condition had only moderately improved overnight.

Berlusconi, 76, has bilateral uveitis and was expected to remain in hospital in Milan at least until today. Berlusconi’s legal team has submitted petitions to courts in both cases requesting hearings be delayed because of the medical condition. Judges granted the petition in the sensational sex-for-hire case on Friday.

The court in the tax fraud appeal dispatched a court-appointed physician to verify the condition. Verdicts in both trials are due in the coming weeks.