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Berlusconi's lawyers immediately said they would appeal the verdict/AFP

World

Italy court sentences Berlusconi to 7 years in sex trial

El-Mahroug described the “bunga bunga” sessions of erotic dancing to interrogators in 2010, saying Berlusconi had picked up the custom from former Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi.

Both the flamboyant billionaire and El-Mahroug denied having had sex.

Prosecutor Ilda Boccassini told the court in her summing up speech last month that El-Mahroug was “part of a prostitution system set up for the personal sexual satisfaction of the defendant”.

She said the dancer quickly became the premier’s “favourite” and had not admitted the relationship with him only because she had received as much as 4.5 million euros ($5.8 million) from him.

El-Mahroug proved an unreliable witness, admitting in May that she had lied to investigators about the parties – going back on an earlier claim that strippers had “bodily stimulated” Berlusconi – and saying she had invented the vast sum of money.

She still admitted to receiving tens of thousands of euros for attending parties and set up a beauty salon.

Berlusconi has been involved in a series of legal battles ever since entering politics in the 1990s but multiple cases against him have either been thrown out, expired under a statute of limitations, or had initial convictions overturned on appeal.

The former cruise ship singer has long blamed his legal woes on persecution by “Communist” judges.

A Milan court last month upheld his conviction for tax fraud, confirming the punishment of a year in prison and a five-year ban from public office which is frozen pending a second appeal.

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Monday’s sentence is stiffer than many expected, and sets a worrying precedent just months ahead of the definitive ruling in the tax fraud case – which is expected to fall around October.

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