THIS is the moment Amanda Knox burst into tears after Italy’s highest court upheld her defamation conviction in the final twist in the Meredith Kercher murder saga.
Knox, who was acquitted in 2015 of murdering her British roommate Meredith in 2007, lost her defamation appeal for wrongly accusing her former boss Patrick Lumumba of the murder.
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Amanda Knox breaks down in tears in video reacting to her libel verdict Credit: YouTube/@therealamandaknox
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Knox arrives in court accompanied by security guards for preliminary hearings into the murder of British student Meredith Kercher at the Perugia Tribunal in 2008. Credit: EPA
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British student Meredith died in 2007 while studying in ItalyCredit: Reuters
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Knox and then-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito look on outside the rented house where 21-year-old British woman Meredith was found dead Credit: AP: Associated Press
The Congolese owned the bar where Knox, then a student, worked part-time.
The decision, handed down on Thursday, leaves American Knox, 37, with a permanent criminal record in Italy.
In a tearful YouTube video titled Slander Verdict Reaction, Knox spoke of the verdict: “I’m a little surprised because I had higher hopes for the court in Rome.
“But there’s nothing else I can do… It’s really disappointing because there’s nothing else I can do.
“That means I just have a criminal record forever for something I didn’t do.”
She also addressed Xu after failing to overturn her defamation conviction, saying: “My raw reactions to today’s ruling are in the link below.
“The irony is that, even though I was wrongfully convicted of defamation, I am the most defamed person in this whole saga.
“The police, the prosecutor’s office, the media, the courts and the murderer Rudy Guede, they all slandered me until the end.”
The defamation ruling relates to Knox’s police interrogation in 2007, during which she accused Mr Lumumba, her then boss at a bar in Perugia, of murdering Meredith.
Amanda Knox cries as she arrives at a court hearing related to the murder of a British student
Mr. Lumumba was arrested and spent two weeks in jail before being released when investigators found no forensic evidence linking him to the crime.
Knox, then 20, later wrote a handwritten note questioning her false accusation, but the damage was done.
Mr Lumumba said the ordeal led to the closure of his bar, Le Chic, and continues to cast a shadow over his life.
After Thursday’s verdict, the man said he was “very pleased” with it, CNN reports.
He said: “Amanda was wrong, this sentence must follow her for the rest of her life.
“I had a good feeling about this since the afternoon.
“I welcome the Italian judiciary with great honor.”
Knox, who did not attend the hearing at Italy’s highest court on Thursday and was accompanied from the US, does not face any additional jail time.
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Rudy Guede, pictured arriving at an appeals trial in Perugia, Italy, in 2009, is the only person ultimately convicted of murderCredit: AP: Associated Press
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Official police images of the murder scene show cosmetics, hair tools and notebooks on a table at Meredith Kercher’s homeCredit: Scott Hornby – The Sun
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Meredith and Knox shared this home in Perugia, ItalyCredit: Reuters
This is because the sentence counted as time he had already spent in prison.
This was the latest chapter in a complex 17-year legal saga full of twists and turns.
Amanda Knox’s legal troubles began when Meredith’s body was found in the apartment the two students shared in Perugia.
Knox and her then-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito were convicted of Kercher’s murder, acquitted and later convicted again before finally being acquitted in 2015.
But the libel verdict remained in dispute during Knox’s long legal battle.
In 2023, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that Knox’s rights had been violated during the 2007 interrogation that led to her accusation against Mr. Lumumba.
But Italian courts upheld the defamation charge, including Thursday’s high court ruling.
Knox, who attended the hearing in Florence in June 2024, told the court she regretted not withdrawing the charge against Mr Lumumba earlier, describing herself at the time as “a young person in an existential crisis”.
The Seattle-based American previously claimed she was a “victim” after being found guilty of defamation.
Fighting back tears, she told Sky News at the time: “I didn’t slander Patrick; I didn’t kill my friend [Meredith]. I will come back here as long as I have to fight against this injustice”.
She added that she had been “unfairly accused” for “my whole adult life”.
Meanwhile, the lead prosecutor at Knox’s murder trial has told how the pair became friends – after bonding over a love of fantasy books.
Giuliano Mignini contacted Knox – who was jailed for 26 years for the 2007 death of her roommate, British student Meredith – because she wanted to meet him.
Hoping to learn the truth behind Meredith’s murder — of which Knox was acquitted on appeal in 2015 — he agreed.
She flew in from Seattle and they met at a church in Perugia, the Italian city where Meredith died.
Mr Mignini, 74, told The Sun on Sunday he was surprised by the visit.
He said: “It has never happened that a person for whom I was asking for a life sentence behaved like that.
“The defendants usually perceive me as hostile.”
Of their shared love of fantasy books, he added: “We’re both fans of Tolkien books, like The Lord of the Rings.”
Timeline of the Meredith Kercher saga
November 1, 2007 – Murder of Meredith Kercher: British exchange student Meredith Kercher, 21, is found dead in the apartment she shares with Amanda Knox in Perugia, Italy. Her throat was slit, and signs suggest she may have been sexually assaulted.
November 6, 2007 – Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito Arrested: Amanda Knox, her Italian boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito, and Patrick Lumumba, Knox’s boss at a local bar, are arrested in connection with Kercher’s murder. Knox accuses Lumumba of murder during police interrogation.
November 20, 2007 – Patrick Lumumba released: Lumumba was released after police found no forensic evidence linking him to the murder. Knox falsely accused him during the disputed interrogation.
December 6, 2007 – Rudy Guede Arrested in Germany: Rudy Guede, a 20-year-old Ivorian, was arrested in Germany and extradited to Italy. His DNA was found on Kercher’s body and at the crime scene.
October 28, 2008 – Guede Convicted of Murder: Guede opts for a speedy trial and is convicted of Kercher’s murder. He was sentenced to 30 years in prison, later reduced to 16 on appeal.
January 16, 2009 – Knox and Sollecito Trial Begins: Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito are on trial for the Kercher murder. Prosecutors claim that a sexual game went wrong, while the defense claims that Guede acted alone.
December 4, 2009 – Knox and Sollecito convicted: Knox and Sollecito are found guilty. Knox was sentenced to 26 years in prison; Sollecito gets 25 years.
November 24, 2010 – The appeal process begins: Knox and Sollecito are appealing their convictions. A key focus is forensic evidence, including DNA found on a knife and bra buckle.
October 3, 2011 – Knox and Sollecito acquitted: An appeals court overturns their convictions, citing errors in the forensic investigation. Knox is freed and returns to Seattle.
March 26, 2013 – Italian Supreme Court orders retrial: The Italian Court of Cassation overturns the acquittals, ordering a retrial for Knox and Sollecito.
January 30, 2014 – Knox and Sollecito Reconvicted: Knox and Sollecito were reconvicted in a retrial. Knox, now in the US, was sentenced to 28.5 years in prison.
March 25, 2015 – Final acquittal: The Italian Supreme Court definitively acquits Knox and Sollecito of Kercher’s murder, citing a lack of evidence and glaring errors in the investigation.
November 2021 – Rudy Guede released: Rudy Guede, the only person ultimately convicted in connection with Kercher’s death, was released from prison after serving 13 years.
2023 – present day – Knox’s libel conviction: Despite her acquittal, Knox is convicted of libel for falsely accusing Patrick Lumumba.
2023: The European Court of Human Rights rules that Knox’s rights were violated during her interrogation in 2007.
June 2024: An Italian court upholds her conviction for defamation, a decision upheld by the Italian High Court in January 2025.
Categories: Optical Illusion
Source: HIS Education