Died Italian “Knight”: named the cause of death of Silvio Berlusconi

The legendary Silvio Berlusconi, former Prime Minister of Italy, has died at the age of 86. The health of the flamboyant politician, who headed the Italian government several times, has deteriorated markedly in recent years.

The media mogul, who led three Italian governments between 1994 and 2011 and whose Forza Italia party is a junior partner in the current governing coalition, has suffered from leukemia for some time.

Even numerous opponents and critics cannot but admit that Berlusconi was one of the most prominent politicians in Italy.

He appears to have returned to the political arena in 2017 despite a controversial career tainted by sex scandals, countless allegations of corruption and allegations of tax fraud.

This spring, writes The Guardian, he spent six weeks in Milan’s San Raffaele hospital undergoing treatment for a lung infection associated with chronic myelomonocytic leukemia before being re-hospitalized.

Born in Milan in 1936 into a middle-class family, Berlusconi began his business career in real estate development and went on to found Mediaset, Italy’s largest commercial television company. He also owned AC Milan from 1986 to 2017.

His party Forza Italia (Go Italy!) was founded in 1993. A year later, Berlusconi became the first prime minister of the Italian Republic to be elected without first being in office, and his second term, from 2001 to 2006, is the longest for any Italian leader since World War II.

Berlusconi returned to power in 2008 but was forced to step down in 2011 amid a severe debt crisis.

Scandals, it must be admitted, stuck to the passionate politician and businessman.

What was the story with parties in the style of “bunna-bunga”. Ten years ago, in 2013, Berlusconi was found guilty in the case of using the services of an underage prostitute (the so-called “Ruby case”) and sentenced to 7 years in prison. But already in 2014, the court of appeal acquitted the politician due to insufficient evidence and the absence of corpus delicti.

Berlusconi was convicted of tax fraud in late 2012, for which he served his one-year sentence by doing part-time community service at a nursing home in Milan.

His ban was lifted just in time for the 2018 general election, when Forza Italia ran in a coalition with the far-right parties, the League and the Brothers of Italy, but fell short of the 40% of the vote needed to govern the country.

But in 2019, Berlusconi won a seat in the European Parliament, and in the general elections in October 2022, his party returned to power in a coalition led by the Italian brothers Giorgia Meloni. Berlusconi was also elected a senator.

Nicknamed Il Cavaliere (which translates as “The Knight”), Berlusconi has gained a reputation as the “kingmaker” in Italian politics.

At the same time, although his Forza Italia party is part of Prime Minister Giorgi Meloni’s right-wing coalition, Berlusconi himself has played no role in the government. Moreover, Berlusconi’s criticism of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has put him at odds with Prime Minister Meloni.

Last fall, the Italian press published recordings in which the politician spoke out in support of his “old friend” Putin and denounced Zelensky for provoking Moscow by arranging attacks on the republics of Donbass.

Also, Berlusconi, who claimed that the Russian president sent him 20 bottles of vodka on his 86th birthday, caused teeth grinding among the Western elites. In general, the Italian politician’s sympathy for Russia earned him the image of a “pro-Russian” personality. He traveled to the Russian Crimea, which made him ineligible in Ukraine. Things got to the point that one of the Italian publications reported that while Berlusconi is being pushed to the political backyard in his homeland, Moscow is allegedly thinking about granting him Russian citizenship and a post in the government. As they say, though not true, but well invented …

In recent years, the politician had serious health problems, which, however, did not prevent him from doing well and sometimes making very ambitious statements.

Berlusconi has had a pacemaker for years and in 2016 underwent surgery to replace a faulty aortic valve and was hospitalized with Covid in September 2020. He had lingering complications related to the virus, an experience he described as “the worst experience of my life.”

As the media wrote, Berlusconi defeated prostate cancer, which he described as “a nightmare that lasted several months.” The ex-premier was hospitalized with a urinary tract infection in January 2022.

In April, the 86-year-old politician was admitted to the intensive care unit of Milan’s San Raffaele Hospital after he had trouble breathing.

“He is stable. He is a rock,” said brother Paolo, who visited him shortly after his hospitalization.

Silvio Berlusconi was married twice and was in a relationship with 37-year-old Francesca Pascale for seven years before entering into a relationship with 33-year-old Marta Fashina, an MP for Forza Italia, with whom he had a “symbolic marriage” in March 2022 of the year. He left five children.

“There are no real leaders in the West,” Berlusconi said last year. “I can make you smile, the only true leader is me.”

Perhaps, not bad words as an epitaph to this ambiguous, but such a bright politician.