Berlusconi associate's tearful protest outside court 'Ruby' used in campaign against Berlusconi Karima El Mahroug also known as 'Ruby the Heartstealer', claims she was used as part of a campaign against former Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi. MILAN: The Moroccan woman at the centre of Silvio Berlusconi's sex-for-hire trial has held an unusual protest in front of Milan's courthouse, accusing investigators of waging psychological warfare against her and manipulating her testimony during interrogations. Karima el-Mahroug read out a tearful, six-page statement on Thursday denying she was a prostitute, insisting she had never had sex with the former prime minister and demanding the court hear her side of the story. I have nothing to be ashamed of and nothing to hide. "I have nothing to be ashamed of and nothing to hide," Ms el-Mahroug said. She denounced what she called "psychological torture" directed at her by people pretending to help her and also accused the media of defaming her. Karima El-Mahroug makes her emotional plea outside the court. The 21-year-old also admitted, however, she had lied in the past to hide her poverty-stricken origins. The 76-year-old Mr Berlusconi is accused of having paid for sex with Ms el-Mahroug while she was a teenager during his infamous "bunga-bunga" parties at his villa near Milan, and then trying to cover it up. Both deny sexual contact. The scandal broke in 2010 when it emerged that Mr Berlusconi had intervened with police on Ms el-Mahroug's behalf after she was accused of stealing €3000 ($3700) from a friend and was detained by Milan police. Mr Berlusconi said he intervened to avoid a diplomatic incident, thinking she was a relative of Hosni Mubarak, Egypt's president at the time. Ms el-Mahroug on Thursday showed an old passport that identified her last name as "Mubarak" and said bureaucratic error was why she often told lies and identified herself as a Mubarak relative. Ms el-Mahroug said much of what she told prosecutors was never included in the official record, particularly when it became clear that she wouldn't accuse Mr Berlusconi of having had sex with her. "And that's when the subliminal intimidations began, the insults from people who had helped me: real live psychological torture," she said.