Silvio Berlusconi Found Guilty Of Sex With Underage Prostitute, 'Ruby The Heartstealer'

Berlusconi Guilty Of Sex With Underage Teen Prostitute
Open Image Modal
(FILES) This combo image made of two file pictures shows Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi (L) at Villa Madama in Rome and Moroccan Karima El Mahroug, nicknamed Ruby the Heartstealer in a nightclub. An Italian court was expected to deliver its verdict on June 24, 2013 on whether former premier Silvio Berlusconi paid for sex with 'Ruby the Heart Stealer', an underage prostitute, and abused his official powers to favour her. AFP PHOTO / FILES/ FILIPPO MONTEFORTE/GIUSEPPE ARESU (Photo
Getty

Silvio Berlusconi has been sentenced to seven years in jail and banned from holding public office, in a prostitution scandal involving the former Italian prime minister paying an underage Moroccan teenager "Ruby the Heartstealer" for sex.

The former Italian prime minister was also found guilty of abuse of public office, by three female judges in Milan, in his attempts to cover-up the incident.

The prosecution asked for a six-year sentence for the ex-politician, meaning Berlusconi received an even tougher sentence than requested.

Berlusconi has two more stages of appeal before he could face going behind bars.

It is not the first prison sentence handed down to the 76-year-old, who was sentenced to four years in jail and barred from holding political office for three years in October 2012 after being convicted of tax evasion.

Both Berlusconi and Ruby, whose real name is Karima el-Mahroug, deny having had sex with each other at the now infamous "bunga bunga" parties in 2010 at Berlusconi's luxury home near Milan.

Prosecutors said the parties were orgies with beautiful women paid to attend.

El-Mahroug, who was dropped from the witness list for failing to appear numerous times at the trial, did give evidence at a separate trial of three Berlusconi aides charged with procuring hookers for the parties. She described beautiful girls stripping at the prime minister's home, dressed as sexy nuns and nurses.

Now aged 20, El-Mahroug passed herself off as in her mid-twenties but was actually 17. She said that she was given around £2,700 at each of the half-a-dozen parties she attended at the mansion.

Ruby The Heartstealer
(01 of04)
Open Image Modal
This Jan. 19, 2011 file photo shows Karima el-Mahroug, also known as Ruby, being interviewed for a TV show, in Milan, Italy. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni, files) (credit:AP)
(02 of04)
Open Image Modal
Karima el-Mahroug, the Moroccan woman at the center of ex-Premier Silvio Berlusconi's sex-for-hire trial, arrives in court to testify as a witness for the first time, in Milan, Monday, Jan. 14, 2013. (AP Photo/Str) (credit:AP)
(03 of04)
Open Image Modal
In this March 3, 2011 file photo, Moroccan Karima el-Mahroug better known as Ruby, who is at the center of a sex scandal plaguing former Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi, attends the traditional Opera Ball in Vienna, Austria. (AP Photo/Ronald Zak, File) (credit:AP)
(04 of04)
Open Image Modal
Karima el-Mahroug and her host Austrian businessman Richard Lugner, from right, enjoy a dance during the traditional Opera Ball in front of the state opera in Vienna, Austria on Thursday, March 3, 2011. (AP Photo/Ronald Zak) (credit:AP)