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Amanda Knox Says It's a "Good Thing" She's Going "On Trial" in Italy Again
The American woman was exonerated of murdering Meredith Kercher in 2015. She's been granted a retrial after appealing a slander conviction in connection to her wrongful accusations that a bar owner murdered Kercher.
Amanda Knox has been granted a retrial by Italy's top court after the American appealed her slander conviction in connection to her wrongful accusations that a bar owner murdered her roommate Meredith Kercher.
Knox shared on social media Friday that she will soon return to Italy for the proceedings. In her statements, she described the legal development as a "good thing."
What is the slander conviction that Amanda Knox is appealing?
The slander conviction stems from Knox's wrongful allegation that bar owner Patrick Lumumba had been responsible for murdering Kercher, resulting in Lumumba being held in prison for two weeks. He was released after an individual confirmed his alibi. In the ensuing fallout, Lumumba lost his bar and moved his family out of Italy, according to The Guardian.
Knox explained that when she and her Italian ex-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito were exonerated for Kercher's November 2007 murder, the Italian appeals court upheld Knox's conviction of slander. She was sentenced to three years in jail — given credit for time already served — and ordered to pay compensation to Lumumba, though his attorney Carlo Pacelli told The Guardian "he never received a cent."
However, Knox noted that the European Court of Human Rights ruled in 2019 that her rights to a translator and interpreter were violated. Her defense attorneys are now arguing that Knox made the allegations under duress, having been denied her rights.
"Now, sixteen years later, the Court of Cassation through a new judicial instrument provided by a recent reform, has acknowledged what has been ruled by the European Court of Human Rights. It has given me the opportunity to seek my full acquittal from this wrongful accusation of slander," Knox wrote.
Knox described Lumumba as being "friend" at the time of Kercher's death, and said that they were both victims of human rights violations. "Patrick Lumumba suffered 10 days of wrongful imprisonment, and Raffaele and I nearly four years. One day in prison as an innocent person is one too many,” Knox continued.
Rudy Guede was Eventually Convicted in Kercher's Murder
Rudy Guede was ultimately found guilty of murdering Kercher, a British student who was sexually assaulted and stabbed multiple times in the Perugia apartment she shared with Knox. He was sentenced to 30 years in prison, though his sentence was reduced to 16 years on appeal. In 2021, he was released from prison after 13 years and allowed to complete his sentence through community service, Oxygen.com previously reported.
In the years since Knox was definitively acquitted of murder, she has become an advocate for criminal justice reform. She appeared in a Netflix documentary about her experience, outlining the flawed investigation into Kercher's murder and the impact the media had on the case.
Knox also wed partner Christopher Robinson, with whom she shares daughter Eureka Muse Knox-Robinson. Becoming a mother has made Knox reevaluate her views on Kercher's murder, sharing with the Call Her Daddy podcast in 2021 that she has even more sympathy for the Kercher family these days.
“This year, I couldn’t help but put myself in her mom’s shoes and thinking, ‘Oh my God, if that happened to my baby,’ what do you do?” Knox said. “You totally understand how her mom would have willingly taken her daughter’s place if she could. And she couldn’t.”
