Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has been sentenced to seven years in jail by a Milan court, after being found guilty of paying for sex with a 17 year-old girl.
Berlusconi, 76, was found guilty of paying for sex with former teenage nightclub dancer Karima El Mahroug, nicknamed Ruby Rubacouri (“Ruby the Heartstealer”), during the alleged “bunga bunga” sex parties at his private villa near Milan in 2010.
Berlusconi has always denied any wrongdoing and says he is being persecuted by left-wing politicians, stating that the purported sex parties were only dinner parties wherein the female guests performed “burlesque” shows. El Mahroug, a Morrocan and the granddaughter of former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak, denies having sex with Berlusconi.
Concluding the two-year trial, the three judges, all female, also convicted him of abuse of office by arranging to have El Mahroug released from police custody when she was detained in a separate theft case. As a result, he has also been banned from public office.
The verdict against the controversial politician, who is also a powerful businessman and the owner of AC Milan, added to the complications facing current Prime Minister Enrico Letta, whose fragile left-right coalition – only in power since August – is supported by Berlusconi’s centre-right People of Freedom (PDL) party.
A number of PDL members have urged Berlusconi to withdraw his backing for the government, and now he may be more tempted to do so if he thinks it is giving him no legal protection.
Nonetheless, the case is far from over and Berlusconi will not be heading to jail yet. With two appeals possible, it could be years before a verdict is final and Berlusconi’s lawyers have already announced they will file an appeal against the most recent ruling, with counsel Niccolo Ghedini calling it “completely illogical.”
