Knox weeps in Italian court as she is re-convicted of slander over murder case
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In an Italian courtroom, Amanda Knox was once again found guilty of slander for falsely accusing an innocent man of murdering her roommate back in 2007.
Knox was previously imprisoned for the murder but later cleared of the charges. She made an appearance at the Florence court on Wednesday to dispute a conviction for slander, which is the only remaining case against her.
The individual who is 36 years old was incarcerated for four years due to the killing of her housemate, Meredith Kercher. They were both pupils on a student exchange program. Subsequently, her guilty verdict was rescinded in 2015.
On Wednesday, she went to court again for a new trial related to a different part of the case. Specifically, she had previously falsely claimed that Patrick Lumumba, who owned a bar in Congo, was the one who committed the crime. However, the court found her accusation to be incorrect.
Despite her original three-year sentence in the slander case, Knox will not be required to serve any additional time in jail due to the time she has already spent incarcerated.
Knox looked like she was crying upon arrival and was pushed around by reporters who were crowded around her as she stepped into the Italian courtroom for the first time in more than ten years. Additionally, it seems that someone hit her in the head with a camera.
However, when the decision was announced, there were no observable signs of emotion on her part.
Shortly after, her attorney, Carlo della Vedova, expressed that "Amanda is filled with bitterness."
On 2 November 2007, Kercher's body was discovered with multiple stab wounds. Her bedroom was locked at the time in the apartment she shared with Knox and two other people.
Knox and her previous partner, Raffaele Sollecito, were held accountable for her assassination, but later on, their convictions were cancelled when a high-level court in Italy overturned them in 2015.
A different individual by the name of Rudy Guede was deemed guilty for Kercher's homicide back in 2008 after authorities located his DNA and footprints at the site. He has since been freed from serving 13 years behind bars and was released in 2021.
In a recent court session, Knox made allegations against the Italian law enforcement, stating that they had made threats and used physical force against her, all in an effort to coerce her into blaming Mr. Lumumba.
Knox recounted in court that the police had intimidatingly warned her of a 30-year imprisonment and that one of the officers had forcefully struck her face three times while uttering the words "Remember, remember."
"I apologize deeply for not having the resilience to endure the pressure caused by the police," she stated.
She stated to the eight judges and members of the jury that she had no idea about the identity of the killer, and had no means to find out.
Prior to attending court, Knox posted a message on her X/Twitter account stating that she would be returning to the same courtroom where she was wrongfully convicted of a crime on June 5th. She also mentioned that she will be defending herself once again.
She expressed her desire to eradicate the false allegations levied against her once and for all. She requested well wishes from others and concluded her statement with the Italian phrase, "Crepi il lupo!", which is akin to "break a leg" in English.
In 2007, Knox, who comes from Seattle, had just recently arrived in Perugia, Italy. Although she only had basic knowledge of the Italian language, she was subjected to an extensive interrogation throughout the night in relation to the murder.
The European Court of Human Rights made a decision in 2019 stating that there were flaws in the official procedures during the interrogation, and as a result, the highest court of Italy ordered a retrial for the defamation lawsuit last year.
In the autumn of 2023, the highest court in Italy dismissed a conviction for defamation that had a prison term of three years.
The never-ending story of the homicide trial has attracted media attention for several years. The case's evolution has been adapted into literary works and films.
In 2007, Knox made an accusation against Mr. Lumumba, the owner of the bar where she was employed. The police typed up statements that Knox signed, but the highest court in Italy has deemed these statements unusable in the new trial.
She took back the accusation by writing a four-page note in English the next day, which is the only proof that the court can use. Even though she tried to withdraw the accusation, they still arrested Mr. Lumumba and kept him in prison for about two weeks.
In this instance, the court was instructed to ignore two harmful statements that were written by the police and signed by Knox during her interrogation in 2007. These statements included her recalling hearing Kercher scream and accusing Mr. Lumumba of committing the murder. Knox later expressed doubts about these statements, citing the intense pressure, shock, and exhaustion she was experiencing during the questioning.
