‘Ruby’ makes her case on steps of Milan courthouse

The 20-year battle between former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi and the Milan judiciary registered yet another dramatic moment yesterday when Karima “Ruby” El Mahroug (20), the Moroccan woman at the centre of the controversial “Rubygate” case, made a dramatic protest on the steps of the Milan courthouse.

With the “Rubygate” trial coming to a conclusion, Ms Mahroug was ostensibly protesting about the fact that she had not been allowed to testify. When asked by reporters why she had not presented herself in court when summonsed last December, however, Ms Mahroug refused to answer.

At the time, she was reportedly “on holiday” in Mexico.

Abuse of office
In the "Rubygate" trial, Mr Berlusconi stands accused of involvement in underage prostitution in 2010 with the then 17-year-old Ruby and also of abuse of office. Surrounded by cameramen and reporters, Ms Mahroug held a chaotic news conference on the courthouse steps in which she alleged, among other things, that she had lied to Mr Berlusconi, that she had never had sex with him and that both magistrates and media had unfairly labelled her a "prostitute".

Furthermore, she accused the magistrates of trying to intimidate her when it became clear that she would not make accusations against Mr Berlusconi. In the end, she said, it was easier to tell “unlikely tales”.

Throughout the last two years of “Rubygate” Ms Mahroug has consistently denied having been paid to have sex with Mr Berlusconi (76).

Admitting that she had told many lies, she said she had done so simply to make herself “different”, while she regretted having lied to Mr Berlusconi who “would still have been respectful towards me and disposed to help me . . . even if I had told him the truth”.

Ms Mahroug was referring to one "lie" in particular, namely that she had presented herself to Mr Berlusconi as the niece of former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak. Mr Berlusconi has always argued that his intervention with Milan police in May 2010 to have "Ruby" released from charges of theft had been motivated by the desire to avoid a "diplomatic" incident with Egypt. Neither the Milan public prosecutor's office nor the Berlusconi defence lawyers has opted to comment on the incident.