Nicolò Ghedini, Silvio Berlusconi's lead lawyer throughout his legal woes and a four-term MP for the three-time premier and media magnate's centre-right Forza Italia party, died of blood cancer Thursday at the age of 62.
Ghedini, who was also a close friend of the billionaire
businessman, died in Milan's San Raffaele Hospital of
complications from leukemia after a recent bone marrow
transplant.
"It doesn't seem possible and yet it is so, sadly," said
Berlusconi, who is busy campaigning for the September 25 general
election in Italy.
"Our grief is great, immense, we can't quite believe it: we
worked together three days ago".
The FI leader called Ghedini "a great friend and an exceptional
professional".
The Padua-born Ghedini, one of Italy's top criminal lawyers,
represented FI in four legislative terms.
Ghedini was born in Padua on 22 December 1959. A member of the
Italian Liberal Party from the late 1970s, he later joined Forza
Italia following his long-time friend Giancarlo Galan. He was
elected for the first time to the Chamber of Deputies in 2001.
From 2005, he was the regional coordinator of Forza Italia in
Veneto.
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