Berlusconi convicted in sex-for-hire trial

MILAN -- Silvio Berlusconi, Italy's flamboyant former premier, was sentenced to seven years in prison and banned from politics for life Monday for paying an underage prostitute for sex and forcing public officials to cover it up.

It was the most damaging setback yet for the 76-year-old Berlusconi, who has been tried numerous times for his business dealings but never before for his personal conduct.

Still, he vowed that his days as a political force are not over. He has two levels of appeal -- and his supporters quickly rallied around him.

The charges against the billionaire media mogul resulted from what became widely known in Italy as "bunga bunga" parties he hosted in 2010, while premier, at his villa near Milan, where he wined and dined beautiful young women.

Berlusconi's defense described the dinner parties as elegant soirees. Prosecutors said they were sex-fueled gatherings that women were paid to attend. The woman at the center of the scandal is Karima el-Mahroug, a then-17-year-old Moroccan better known as Ruby.

Both she and Berlusconi, however, denied ever having sex, and el-Mahroug says she never worked as a prostitute.

After the verdict, Berlusconi said in a Facebook message that he believed he would be acquitted "because in the facts there is really no possibility to convict me." -- AP