American Amanda Knox, who was eventually acquitted of the murder of British exchange student Meredith Kercher in 2015, must appear in court again in Italy. The High Court in Rome has accepted an appeal by Knox’s defense against her client’s three-year prison sentence for defamation. The new trial will take place before an appeals court in Florence.
The new trial is based on a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in Strasbourg. The court ruled that it had been proven that Italy had violated Knox’s rights of defense. The date for the new trial in Florence has yet to be set.
Bloody murder of roommate never fully solved
Knox and her ex-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito were accused of murdering the British student, whose body was discovered in her bedroom in the central Italian city of Perugia in late 2007. The case attracted worldwide attention. Sollecito and Knox were sentenced to long prison terms in 2009, but were subsequently acquitted in 2011. Knox returned to the United States. The case went through multiple instances, both were convicted again, but Italy’s highest court eventually acquitted them in March 2015.
However, the American was sentenced to three years in prison for defamation. During interrogation, Knox accused a Congolese bartender, Patrick Lumumba, who worked in Perugia and whom she knew, of murder. The American had already served her three-year prison sentence, taking into account her pre-trial detention. She returned to the US in 2011 after a total of four years in custody.
Convicted African released again
The only person legally convicted of the exchange student’s murder is Ivorian-born Rudy Guede, who, the adopted son of an Italian couple, had lived in Perugia since he was six. He was sentenced to 30 years in prison in October 2008 after summary proceedings. After appeal, the sentence was reduced to 16 years. Investigators agreed he could not have acted alone. Guede is now free again.
Source: Krone
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