Amanda Knox: Kercher death retrial is ‘painful’
Italy’s top court overturns the acquittal of American student Amanda Knox and her former boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito for the murder of Briton Meredith Kercher, and orders a retrial.
Knox and Sollecito were accused of the murder of 21-year-old Kercher in 2007 during what was alleged as a drug-fuelled sexual assault. The pair were initially found guilty and were sentenced to 26 and 25 years in prison respectively.
A third person, Rudy Guede, was found guilty and sentenced to 30 years in prison, later reduced to 16.
My family and I will face this continuing legal battle … with our heads held high in the face of wrongful accusations and unreasonable adversity. Amanda Knox
Their convictions were overturned in 2011 after forensic investigators challenged the scientific evidence provided by the police, and Knox and Sollecito were released.
The appeals court that acquitted them criticised virtually the entire case mounted by prosecutors, noting that the murder weapon was never found, that DNA tests were flawed and that prosecutors provided no murder motive.
However, last year prosecutors filed a motion appealing against the acquittals, calling the verdicts “contradictory and illogical”.
Italy’s Court of Cassation then examined the whether there were procedural irregularities which gave grounds for a retrial, but did not assess the details of the case.
‘Painful’
On Tuesday, the court ruled that a retrial should take place. The court’s reasons for the retrial, which will be held at a court in Florence, will be announced later.
Knox has said it was “painful” to receive news that Italy’s highest criminal court has overturned her acquittal and said prosecutors must be made to answer for “discrepancies” raised in their case.
In a statement Tuesday, Knox said: “No matter what happens, my family and I will face this continuing legal battle as we always have, confident in the truth and with our heads held high in the face of wrongful accusations and unreasonable adversity.”
Knox returned to her home in the States after she was released from prison. She was due to speak publicly about the trial for the first time on American television in April, when her book about the case is due to be released.
