Silvio Berlusconi awaits sex trial verdict Silvio Berlusconi, former prime minister of Italy Former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi on Monday will learn the verdict in his two-year-long sex and corruption trial involving an alleged Moroccan prostitute Karima el Mahroug, who goes by the stage name "Ruby Heart Stealer." Prosecutors have asked for a six-year jail sentence and a lifetime ban from public office in a case that risks undermining Italy's new coalition government. After making a brief appearance on Monday morning, the three judges withdrew to consider their verdict which is expected in the early afternoon. Ilda Boccassini, chief prosecutor, in her closing arguments in a Milan court in May, accused Mr Berlusconi of hosting a prostitution network organised for his pleasure, including Ms Mahroug, an alleged juvenile prostitute whom the prosecution said received more than €4.5m from the billionaire media mogul. The prosecution asked for a five-year jail term on a charge of abuse of office, relating to pressure the then prime minister allegedly applied to the head of a Milan police station in 2010 to release Ms Mahroug, who had been detained on suspicion of theft. Mr Berlusconi allegedly claimed she was the granddaughter of Hosni Mubarak, the then president of Egypt. A one-year jail term was requested for the sex offence. Mr Berlusconi denies both charges. Ms Mahroug, a former nightclub dancer who was 17 years old in 2010 at the time of the prime minister's "bunga bunga" parties, denies they had sex. The trial comes at a critical moment for Italy's new government, a fragile coalition between Mr Berlusconi's centre-right People of Liberty and the centre left Democrats formed in April to break two months of deadlock following inconclusive elections. Mr Berlusconi lost his appeal in a separate trial against a four-year jail sentence and a five-year ban on holding public office imposed in October for alleged tax fraud involving his Mediaset television company. Mr Berlusconi accuses the judiciary of leftwing bias against him. He withdrew his party's support for the previous technocrat government led by Mario Monti last December as a direct result of the Mediaset verdict and there are fears that he might destabilise the present coalition if he believed there was a danger his political career would be destroyed in the courts. Mr Berlusconi was elected a senator in February. Mediaset last month broadcast a primetime documentary giving Mr Berlusconi's version of the trial. Titled A 20 Year War: Ruby - the Last Act, the programme included interviews with Mr Berlusconi and Ms Mahroug protesting their innocence. It also showed the dining room, heavily decorated with baroque style moulding and gilt picture frames, where the bunga bunga parties allegedly took place. Mr Berlusconi has described the evenings as simple dinner parties with music and dancing. Ms Boccassini, however, said on Monday: "Do not have any doubt that Karima el Mahroug had sex with Berlusconi and received benefits for doing so." "The girls who were invited made up part of a prostitution network organised for the pleasure of Silvio Berlusconi," Ms Boccassini said, describing Ms El Mahroug, who is of Moroccan origin, as being the victim of a "negative Italian dream." "She wanted to get close to Berlusconi to obtain easy money and the chance of work in the world of show business, like so many other people," the prosecutor said, alleging that Ms Mahroug had been a prostitute before meeting Mr Berlusconi.