Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has survived political, corruption and sex scandals over the years, but on Friday, a Milan court sentenced the flamboyant politician to four years in prison for tax evasion.

Berlusconi, who is likely to appeal, called it an "unacceptable political sentence" in an interview that aired on CNN affiliate TGCOM24.

His trial, which also involved executives from Berlusconi's Mediaset television group and the head of a Swiss bank, concerned the purchase of TV rights for films that were then resold within the group at inflated prices.