Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has said he will remain in politics even if senators vote to throw him out of parliament.
Berlusconi, speaking before a preliminary vote by a Senate panel, said that he will be with the people of the country even if he is expelled from parliament.
According to a 2012 anti-corruption law, Berlusconi should be thrown from the upper house after the Supreme Court last month upheld his fraud conviction.
There is expected to be a vote of the full Senate next month over Berlusconi's chances in politics, the BBC reports.
Berlusconi is currently also appealing against convictions for paying for sex with an underage prostitute and for being involved in the publication of an illegally obtained wiretap, the report added.
