Former Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi dead at 86 due to leukemia

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
12 Jun 2023 14:08

Italian media reports that Berlusconi was rushed to be hospitalized at Milan's San Raffaele Hospital for follow-up tests on Friday, just three weeks after leaving the clinic for 'hematological pathology' matters.

Former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi in Rome in December 2021. (AP)

After being treated for lung infections back in April, former Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi died at age 86, after succumbing to an undisclosed case of chronic leukemia.

According to Italian media, Berlusconi was rushed to be hospitalized at Milan's San Raffaele Hospital for follow-up tests on Friday, just three weeks after leaving the clinic, but his physicians stated that his re-hospitalization was a result of the need to "carry out planned control studies in connection with a known hematological pathology."

The former prime minister's personal physician Alberto Zangrillo and hematologist Fabio Ciceri reportedly stated that his condition was considered stable during the time at which media reported him being hospitalized due to breathing issues.

After his physicians announced for the first time that he was suffering from chronic leukemia, he began chemotherapy and was discharged on May 19.

Italian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani - a Forza Italia member and close Berlusconi ally - confirmed the diagnosis and the presence of the disease as well.

'Bunga Bunga' Berlusconi

Berlusconi first came to office in 1994 and held four governments between then and 2011.

He later led the center-right Forza Italia party which just joined a coalition under Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in September 2022, when he was elected to the Senate in Italy.

He was convicted of tax fraud in 2012 and served a one-year sentence which included part-time community service at a residential home in Milan.

He was even involved in trials over his sexual scandals, after being convicted but later discharged over allegations of having sex with an underage dancer during one of his “bunga bunga” parties.

Berlusconi was married twice and is a father to five children.