Former Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi's under-age sex appeal trial opens

MILAN (AFP) - Silvio Berlusconi's appeal trial against a conviction for paying for sex with an underage prostitute opened Friday without the former premier, who was doing community service for a separate tax fraud conviction.





The three-time premier has repeatedly denied having sex in 2010 with then 17-year-old exotic dancer Ruby - whose real name is Karima El-Mahroug - during parties that witnesses said featured nudity and strippers dressed as nuns.

El-Mahroug told the first trial about attending "sensual" soirees that invitees nicknamed "bunga bunga" in a discotheque at Berlusconi's villa, saying she was paid €2,000 or €3,000 (S$3,400 or $5,100) a night - but she also denied having sex with the tycoon.






Berlusconi - who was definitively convicted for tax fraud last year - was absent from court because he was performing his community service, which involves helping out weekly in a hospice for Alzheimer's patients.