Italy: Witness describes sex games with Berlusconi

At a party he hosted when he was prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi asked young women to simulate oral sex with a Greek statue, a witness said Monday at a trial where he is accused of paying for sex with an underage prostitute. The witness, Chiara Danese, a 20-year-old beauty contest winner, had tears in her eyes as she told a Milan court that Mr. Berlusconi asked the women to play sex games with a nude statue of the ancient fertility god Priapus. “He touched the girls while they simulated oral sex with the statue,” she said, adding that he also had the women kiss his private parts. Prosecutors said that dozens of showgirls and aspiring starlets received cash and other gifts for taking part in sex games at his Milan home. Mr. Berlusconi, 75, is charged with paying for sex with a 17-year-old and abusing the powers of his office to free her from police custody after she had been arrested on theft charges. He denies the charges.