Italy Amanda Knox appeals against conviction

SDA

14.10.2024 - 18:51

ARCHIVE - Amanda Knox (M) has filed an appeal after being sentenced to three years in prison. Photo: Antonio Calanni/AP/dpa
ARCHIVE - Amanda Knox (M) has filed an appeal after being sentenced to three years in prison. Photo: Antonio Calanni/AP/dpa
Keystone

The judicial drama surrounding the murder of a British exchange student in Italy in 2007 is entering a new round - probably the last. After being sentenced to three years in prison for defamation, the US-American Amanda Knox officially appealed to the Italian judiciary in order to achieve a complete acquittal. This was announced by her lawyers. Italy's highest court, the Supreme Court of Cassation in Rome, must now deal with the case again.

The 37-year-old has already had good experiences with this: in 2015, after two guilty verdicts in the lower courts, the judges in Rome finally acquitted her of the charge of murdering her British flatmate Meredith Kercher. The case is still the subject of much speculation today.

Found guilty of defamation

Knox - often referred to as the "angel with the ice eyes" - was sentenced to three years in prison by an Italian appeals court in June because she had accused an obviously innocent barman of murder after her arrest. However, she does not have to go back behind bars: she has already served the three-year sentence through her previous stay in Italian prisons.

Knox now lives on the west coast of the USA again. She is married and has two children. She sees herself as a victim of the Italian justice system. In the main trial, the American was found guilty twice for the murder of her former roommate. In the last instance, however, there was a flawless acquittal in 2015. The murder remains unsolved to this day. It was the basis for books, films and a successful series.

Murder 17 years ago still unsolved today

The murder of 21-year-old Meredith Kercher in the central Italian city of Perugia in November 2007 has been making headlines ever since. The young British woman had been found during an exchange semester in the apartment she had shared with three other young women, including Amanda Knox. A 20-year-old man, whose fingerprints were found at the crime scene, was convicted of accessory to murder. After 13 years in prison, he has since been released.

SDA