Berlusconi warns of 'revolution' if he is arrested

Former premier Silvio Berlusconi warned Thursday that there will be "a revolution" in Italy in case he is arrested, after he lost his parliamentary immunity and his Senate seat over a tax fraud conviction, the Voice of Russia said. 

Berlusconi was thrown out of parliament on November 27 because he was found guilty of fraudulent offshore accounting at his family media firm, Mediaset. He faces trials and investigations for other crimes, such as bribing witnesses to testify in his favour.

"They can wiretap my phone, they have taken away my passport and they can arrest me whenever they want. But I am not afraid, there will be a revolution in Italy if they do it," he said in an interview with French radio Europe 1.

"It will be very difficult to put me in prison, because I will win a large majority at the next elections," Berlusconi said. He repeated that his ejection from parliament amounted to a "coup d'etat."

According to a poll published Wednesday by the Datamedia institute, Berlusconi's centre-right coalition is trailing centre-left rivals by 33.6 per cent to 34.4 per cent.

The figure includes a 5.3-per-cent support figure for the New Centre Right, the party led by deputy premier Angelino Alfano who has split from Berlusconi's Forza Italia to continue supporting the grand coalition government of Prime Minister Enrico Letta.

The billionaire media mogul, whose party has moved to the opposition, said he was hopeful that his conviction could be scrapped in a judicial review before May, so that he could stand as a candidate in elections for the European Parliament.

He said general elections should take place at the same time, even if President Giorgio Napolitano said earlier this week that he had no intention to dissolve parliament. Berlusconi is banned from standing for public office for six years.