Berlusconi hosted "prostitution network," prosecutor alleges Silvio Berlusconi hosted a prostitution network organised for his pleasure, the prosecuting magistrate has alleged in her closing argument in the sex trial of the billionaire former Italian prime minister and leader of the centre-right group in the new ruling coalition. Ilda Boccassini, prosecuting the case in which Mr Berlusconi is accused of having paid for sex with an underaged prostitute who goes by the stage name Ruby Heart Stealer, said on Monday there was "no doubt that Ruby was prostituting herself." "The girls who were invited made up part of a prostitution network organised for the pleasure of Silvio Berlusconi," Ms Boccassini said. She added that Ruby, whose real name is Karim El Mahroug, was 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. Mr Berlusconi denies charges of paying for sex with Ms Mahroug in 2010 when she was 17 years old. He also denies the related charge of abuse of office in putting pressure on the chief of a Milan police station to release Ms Mahroug from detention on suspicion of theft, claiming that she was the granddaughter of Hosni Mubarak, then president of Egypt. Sentencing in the "bunga bunga" trial, so-called after the nickname given to Mr Berlusconi's parties, is due at the end of May. It has been delayed after Mr Berlusconi's lawyers asked that it be mothballed because of the tycoon's political commitments, or moved to another location. It comes at a crucial time for the government coalition formed last month, two months after national elections failed to produce an outright winner. Government ministers from Mr Berlusconi's party took part in a protest against the judiciary in the northern city of Brescia on Saturday, eliciting a furious response from Enrico Letta, prime minister who is from the centre-left Democrat Party. The ministers took to the streets after Mr Berlusconi lost his appeal in a separate trial last week against a four-year jail sentence imposed in October for alleged tax fraud involving his Mediaset television company. Calling the protests against the judiciary "unacceptable," Mr Letta on Sunday said he was not willing to continue a government "at all costs." Ms Mahroug has admitted she lied to Mr Berlusconi about her past, including being related to Mr Mubarak, but that she invented stories using a fake passport to escape the poverty and suffering she was born into. On Sunday, Mediaset broadcast a primetime documentary giving his version of the bunga bunga 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.