A singer with the best-selling German pop group

A singer with the best-selling German pop group No Angels broke down in tears during a court appearance today, as she confessed to having unprotected sex without telling her partners she was HIV-positive. One of her lovers was later diagnosed with the disease.

"I am sorry with all my heart," Nadja Benaissa, 28, told the court in Darmstadt near Frankfurt, according to Agence France-Presse.

Boris Roessler, AFP / Getty Images

German pop star Nadja Benaissa waits for the start of her trial in the district courthouse in the central German city of Darmstadt on Monday. Benaissa, a singer in the German pop group No Angels, is accused of not telling sexual partners, with whom she had unprotected sex, that she is HIV-positive.

The singer, who appeared in court wearing jeans and a purple shirt and had her hair tied back in a ponytail, has been charged with aggravated assault and attempted aggravated assault, according to German news agency Deutsche Welle. Benaissa allegedly had unprotected sex on five occasions between 2000 and 2004 with three different men and did not tell them she was infected, according to a charge sheet seen by Agence France-Presse. If found guilty, she could face up to 10 years in jail.

Benaissa first discovered she was HIV-positive in 1999, but she told the court she had never intended to infect any of her partners. Entertainment newswire WENN reported that her attorney read out a statement in court, in which the pop star claimed that she had been told "the chance of the infection breaking out in my case is almost zero" and that the possibility "I could infect somebody else with HIV" was similarly low.

Benaissa added that she didn't tell her lovers about her condition, as she was worried the news would go public and damage her daughter (now 11) as well as her booming career with the band. No Angels are Germany's most successful girl band and sold 5 million albums between 2000 and 2003. They reformed in 2007 and took part in the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest competition, but came in at only 23rd place.

However, as the German tabloid Bild reported, one of Benaissa's former lovers paid a heavy price for her silence. The man -- who has not been named -- took the witness stand and said he had unprotected sex with the singer on three occasions. He said he went for a HIV test after learning of Benaissa's condition from her aunt and discovered he had also contracted the virus.