Italy Opens New Slander Trial Against Amanda Knox. She Was Exonerated 9 Years Ago In Friend’s Murder

Florence, Italy – Amanda Knox was back on trial for defamation Wednesday after falsely accusing a Congolese man of murdering her roommate while the two were exchange students in Italy. Knox was convicted of the murder before being acquitted in a case that drew national attention.

Amanda, a 20-year-old student with limited Italian who had just arrived in Perugia, faced a long night of questioning in the death of Meredith Kercher. She eventually accused the owner of the pub where she worked part-time of killing the 21-year-old British student.

Italy Opens New Slander Trial Against Amanda Knox. She Was Exonerated 9 Years Ago In Friend’s Murder

In 2016, the European Court of Human Rights found that her rights were infringed since she was interrogated without the presence of a lawyer or an official translator.

In November, Italy’s highest Cassation Court overturned the defamation conviction — Knox’s lone remaining guilty decision — nine years after the same court overturned convictions for Kercher’s murder against Amanda and her Italian ex-boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito.

That conviction, which went through many trials and appeals, has remained a legal stain on her, particularly in Italy, while she seeks a new life in the United States, lobbying for judicial reform.

Another man was found guilty in Kercher’s 2007 murder.

Amanda, now 36, did not present at Wednesday’s court in Florence and is being tried in absentia. She stays in the United States, where she works for social justice and is working on several media projects, including a podcast and a limited series on her case for Hulu.

Amanda’s accusation against bar owner Patrick Lumumba surfaced in police-typed statements that she signed, but Italy’s highest court declared them inadmissible in the new trial.

She recanted the claim in a four-page handwritten note in English dated the following afternoon, which is the only evidence the court can consider.

Italy Opens New Slander Trial Against Amanda Knox. She Was Exonerated 9 Years Ago In Friend’s Murder

However, Lumumba’s lawyer, Carlo Pacelli, contended that the banned documents should be readmitted as references because Knox mentioned them several times in her written statement. Lumumba, who is participating in the case in accordance with Italian law, did not attend the trial.

After nearly four hours of arguments, the court recessed and will reconvene on June 5 for rebuttals and a ruling. Eight lay jurors and two qualified judges are conducting the trial.

Despite Knox’s attempts to retract the claim, Lumumba was apprehended for questioning and detained for nearly two weeks.

Knox was sentenced to three years in prison for defamation, which she served for nearly four years until being judged not guilty by a Perugia appeals court. After six years of conflicting judgments, Italy’s highest court formally exonerated Knox of the murder in 2015.

Italy Opens New Slander Trial Against Amanda Knox. She Was Exonerated 9 Years Ago In Friend’s Murder

Kercher’s body was discovered with her throat cut on November 2, 2007, in her locked bedroom in the apartment she shared with Knox and two other roommates.

Rudy Guede, whose DNA and footprints were discovered at the scene, was convicted of murder and sentenced to 16 years in prison. He was released after spending 13 years and is now being investigated for allegedly physically and sexually assaulting a previous girlfriend since his release.

SOURCE – (AP)