ROME (AFP) - Italy's former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi has asked to serve his 12-month sentence for tax fraud in the form of community service, his lawyers said on Friday.

Italy's supreme court on August 1 turned down Mr Berlusconi's second and final appeal in a tax fraud case, handing him his first ever definitive conviction in a long history of legal woes. Because of his age, the 77-year-old will not have to go to prison and had a choice of asking for either house arrest or community service.