Italian prosecutors sum up in Berlusconi sex trial

Italian prosecutors today presented their final arguments at the close of Silvio Berlusconi's trial for having sex with an underage prostitute and abuse of office in a legal storm that is shaking the government.
The hearing is one of the last in a trial that began two years ago and relates to alleged crimes in 2010 when Berlusconi was still prime minister and revolves around alleged raunchy "bunga bunga" parties at his luxury residence outside Milan.
"The women invited to the then prime minister's private residence were part of a prostitution system set up for the personal sexual satisfaction of the defendant Silvio Berlusconi," said prosecutor Ilda Boccassini in a live feed from the courtroom broadcast by news channel Sky TG 24.

Prosecutors are expected to request a sentence of at least five years in prison for the flamboyant billionaire tycoon, who was not present for the hearing, Italian media reported.
A verdict could come later this month.
Berlusconi is accused of paying for sex on several occasions with Moroccan-born Karima El-Mahroug, a then 17-year-old exotic dancer nicknamed as "Ruby the Heart Stealer".

Boccassini said El-Mahroug, a teenage runaway who was initially spotted by a Berlusconi associate at a beauty contest in Sicily when she was 16, had become the prime minister's "favourite".
She said there was "no doubt" that El-Mahroug was working as a prostitute and that she had sex with Berlusconi, portraying her as someone following a "negative Italian dream" based on money.

It is also alleged that Berlusconi called a police station to pressure for El-Mahroug's release from custody when she was arrested for petty theft. According to prosecutors, he did so because he was fearful she could reveal their liaison.
Berlusconi, 76, denies all charges and says the trial is only the latest example of "judicial persecution" by left-wing prosecutors in Milan.
A programme on Sunday on a television channel he owns included interviews with Berlusconi and El-Mahroug in which the two spoke of "perfectly normal" soirees that have been wrongly portrayed.