Amanda Knox reconvicted in slander case

A court docket in Florence has reconvicted Amanda Knox for slander, years after she was acquitted of murdering her British roommate Meredith Kercher in 2007.

Knox won’t go to jail as she has already served 4 years for the homicide, for which she was initially convicted.

On the time she was additionally convicted of slander for blaming the homicide on native bar proprietor Patrick Lumumba throughout police interrogation, however that conviction was quashed final yr and a retrial ordered.

Knox’s attorneys have stated they count on to attraction in opposition to the most recent verdict.

They added that Amanda was dissatisfied as she hoped to lastly clear her identify after years of authorized battles.

She advised the court docket on Wednesday that police had coerced her into implicating Mr Lumumba.

“The police threatened me with 30 years in jail, an officer slapped me thrice saying ‘Keep in mind, keep in mind’,” Knox, 36, stated.

“I am very sorry that I wasn’t sturdy sufficient to face up to the stress from the police,” she added, talking in Italian.

“I by no means wished to slander Patrick. He was my buddy, he took care of me and consoled me for the lack of my buddy (Meredith). I am sorry I wasn’t in a position to withstand the stress and that he suffered.”

Mr Lumumba was arrested in reference to the 2007 homicide and spent two weeks behind bars, however was launched with out cost after a buyer gave him an alibi.

Regardless of this, his attorneys stated the case has affected his repute, and that he “turned recognized in all places because the monster of Perugia”.

His lawyer advised reporters outdoors the courthouse earlier than the listening to: “He misplaced his job, had his bar seized for months, and needed to return to Poland, as a result of his spouse was Polish.”

Mr Lumumba was not in court docket.

The listening to was held behind closed doorways, and audio and video recording was prohibited.

Knox was famously tried, convicted and later acquitted for the homicide of 21-year-old pupil Ms Kercher, initially from south London.

Knox and Ms Kercher had been each language change college students sharing a home within the college city of Perugia in 2007.

Ms Kercher, 21, was discovered lifeless of their home. Her throat had been lower and she or he had been sexually assaulted.

The trial was the topic of world media curiosity as a result of prosecutors argued that Ms Kercher was the sufferer of a drug-fuelled intercourse sport gone unsuitable.

Knox, her then-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito, and a 3rd particular person referred to as Rudy Guede had been convicted of homicide and sexual violence in December 2009 and jailed. Knox was convicted of slandering Mr Lumumba in 2011.

However the identical yr, a jury freed Knox and Mr Sollecito on attraction after doubts emerged over forensic proof used in opposition to them, and Knox returned to the US after spending 4 years in jail.

The duo’s responsible verdicts had been reinstated in 2014 then finally overturned in 2015.

Knox is now married with two younger youngsters, and is a campaigner for prison justice reform. She returned to Italy 5 years in the past to handle a convention on wrongful conviction, the place she spoke of the ache of being tried by the media.

The trial was additionally the topic of a Netflix documentary in 2016, and Knox additionally revealed a memoir about her time in jail.

Mr Sollecito has saved a low-profile since his launch. In 2017, he advised the BBC that the case had left him in debt.

Guede – a Perugian resident initially from the Ivory Coast – was linked to the scene by DNA proof and is the one particular person whose conviction for Ms Kercher’s homicide was upheld. He was launched early in 2021.