KNOX SHOCK
Weeping Amanda Knox says ‘I’m a victim’ after being found GUILTY in Meredith Kercher murder slander case after retrial
Patrick Lumumba spent two weeks behind bars as a result of Knox's comments following the killing
A WEEPING Amanda Knox insisted she is "a victim" after being found guilty of slander during the Meredith Kercher murder case.
A teary-eyed Knox, 36, lost her bid to overturn the conviction in Italy this week as the legal saga that has taken years to resolve took another turn.
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A court in Florence on Wednesday found the American had wrongly accused an innocent man, Patrick Lumumba, of Ms Kercher's brutal killing in the town of Perugia in 2007.
The Briton, 21, had been found in her bedroom in the town of Perugia with 47 stab wounds and a cut throat.
Lumumba had been the Congolese owner of the bar where Knox, then a 20-year-old university student, had worked part-time.
Days after Kercher's death, Knox signed a statement implicating Lumumba committed the murder, although both of them, along with her former Italian boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito, were arrested.
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Lumumba was released just two weeks later, before Knox and Sollecito were eventually found guilty of murder in December 2009.
Knox went down for 26 years while Sollecito received 25 years, although both were acquitted in 2011 and then fully exonerated by Italy's highest court in 2015.
The American activist, 36, still spent nearly four years behind bars in Italy, however.
Following her re-conviction of slander, Knox, from Seattle, called Wednesday's court's verdict "unfair" and "not correct" as she vowed to appeal to Italy's supreme court.
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Fighting back tears, she told : "I didn't slander Patrick; I didn't kill my friend [Meredith]. I will come back here as many times as I have to fight against this injustice".
She added that she had been "unjustly accused" for her "entire adult life".
Amanda Knox cries as she arrives for court case linked to Brit student's murder
During her initial police questioning over the killing in 2007, Knox claims she was "psychologically tortured, abused and mistreated" by officers.
"It was the worst experience of my life. They made me think I was crazy," she said.
Knox had accused Lumumba of Ms Kercher's murder during an interrogation, for which the former bar owner spent two weeks behind bars.
However, Knox argued in court in Florence this week that her slander conviction should be overturned because of her treatment by officers.
In 2016, the European Court of Human Rights ruled the interrogation violated Knox's rights because she was questioned without a lawyer or official translator.
It prompted Italy's top court to throw out the slander conviction and ordered a retrial last November.
"I've had to spend my whole life fighting and defending myself," Knox said.
She added: "Sometimes I think there's nothing I can do but I'll try forever."
MEREDITH KERCHER
Meredith Kercher was born in Southwark, South London, on December 28, 1985.
The 21-year-old's body was found in a pool of blood in her bedroom on November 2, 2007.
An autopsy conducted on her body found that her throat had been cut and she had been stabbed almost 50 times.
It also found that she had 16 bruises, including on her nose and mouth, and suffered injuries related to sexual assault.
In 2007, fingerprints at the scene were found to belong to Rudy Guede, who was later charged and sentenced for the brutal murder.
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He was granted early release in November 2021.
The case attracted global media interest, with Knox at the centre.
Amanda Knox Case Timeline
The murder of Meredith Kercher led to two people being wrongfully convicted, giving the case international publicity.
- September 2007 - Meredith Kercher and Amanda Knox move into a villa at 7 via della Pergola in Perugia within weeks of each other
- October 2007 - Knox meets Raffaele Sollecito at concert and the two begin dating
- November 1, 2007 - Meredith Kercher is murdered in her bedroom. Her body is found the next day.
- November 6, 2007 - Knox signs a statement implicating Patrick Lumumba of the murder. She, Lumumba, and Sollecito are all arrested but Lumumba is released two weeks later
- November 19, 2007 - Rudy Guede is named a suspect in Kercher's murder
- November 22, 2007 - Knox retracts her confession after it is published in the media
- December 2007 - Guede is extradited to Italy after being found in Germany. He says he had sexual relations with Kercher but another man killed her
- July 2008 - Knox, Guede, and Sollecito are charged with murder
- October 2008 - Guede is found guilty of murder and is sentenced to 30 years (His sentence is reduced to 16 years in 2009)
- December 2009 - Knox and Sollecito are found guilty; Knox receives 26 years; Sollecito gets 25 years
- November 24, 2010 - Knox and Sollecito appeal their convicitons
- March 27, 2015 - Italy's Supreme Court overturns Knox and Sollecito's murder convictions
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