Former Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi has denied any "intimate ties" with an underage prostitute he is charged with.

BBC: Berlusconi sex trial: 'No intimate ties' with Ruby

Mr Berlusconi is also currently on trial for allegedly paying for sex with an underage prostitute, and later abusing his powers by putting pressure on the police to release her from custody.

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Berlusconi is currently awaiting a verdict in a trial in which he stands accused of paying an underage prostitute for sex on more than 13 occasions and abusing his office to protect her in an unrelated crime.

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Two years later, magistrates in Milan said they were investigating whether Berlusconi paid for sex with an underage prostitute named Ruby the Heartbreaker, then used his power to spring her from jail in an unrelated incident in which she was picked up for theft.

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Despite his clashes with Italian justice over corruption charges, and the fact that he is still on trial for allegedly paying an underage prostitute for sex, Mr Berlusconi is using his considerable political skills to appeal to an electorate which has seen a draconian increase in taxes by the technocrat administration led by Mario Monti during 2012, our correspondent says.

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