Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. Photo: AFP

(VOVworld)- Italy’s former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has pledged to stay in politics even if he is ousted from parliament over a criminal conviction for tax evasion. In a televised announcement on Wednesday before a Parliament Committee voting to decide whether or not to remove him, Berlusconi still insisted that he is “totally innocent”. The media tycoon said judges want to remove him from the political system through judicial means. Berlusconi called for support from voters of the center-right Italian People of Liberty Party, which just took its original name of Forza Italy or Go Italy. However, since the accusation of tax evasion, Berlusconi has not mentioned his previous prediction that his party will knock out the coalition government of Prime Minister Enrico Letta.