Italian court finds Amanda Knox guilty of defamation in Meredith Kercher murder case
The American appeared before the court in an attempt to clear her name "once and for all" after she initially blamed the death of her roommate on Patrick Lumumba, the owner of the bar where she worked.
Amanda Knox
An Italian court again found Amanda Knox guilty of defamation Wednesday in the case of the 2007 murder of her roommate, Meredith Kercher. The American appeared for the first time in more than 12 years before an Italian court in an attempt to withdraw the charges that were brought against her after the death of British student Meredith Kercher and thus clear her name "once and for all," as she stated in a post on X:
The 36-year-old woman hoped, according to NBC News, that after being found not guilty of defamation, any doubt about her guilt in the crime would be dispersed. Italian authorities imprisoned Amanda Knox in 2011. Almost four years later, in 2015, the Italian justice system acquitted her for her alleged involvement in Kercher's murder.
Knox claims police pressured her to defame Patrick Lumumba
Everything seemed to be over. However, a European ruling in favor of Knox said Italy violated the American's human rights during a long night of interrogation that took place days after Kercher's murder.
Knox defended herself before the eight judges this Wednesday, ensuring that she accused Patrick Lumumba, the Congolese owner of a bar where she worked, as a result of police pressure: "I am very sorry that I was not strong enough to resist the pressure of police. I didn’t know who the murderer was. I had no way to know," Knox said in statements reported by the AP.
Despite her words, the Italian court decided to maintain the defamation charges, alleging that Knox intentionally accused Patrick Lumumba, who also ended up in prison for two weeks. However, although the Italian court confirmed that the American was guilty of defamation, Knox will not have to serve any type of prison sentence. This is because she already served a three-year sentence in an Italian prison before an Italian court acquitted her of the murder of Meredith Kercher, allowing Knox to return to the United States, where she is now married and has two children.
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