Amanda Knox wins £16,000 damages from Italian government for human rights abuses over Meredith Kercher murder investigation
AMANDA Knox has been awarded a £16,000 pay out after winning a European Human Rights Court case against the Italian government.
Knox, 31, had been originally convicted of the brutal sex murder of Brit student Meredith Kercher, 20, found semi naked with her throat slashed.
At the Court, she said Italian police had infringed her rights by failing to provide her with a lawyer, an interpreter and not following proper procedure.
She also insisted she had been slapped by cops during questioning but judges ruled there was no proof of that.
They wrote: "There was insufficient evidence to conclude that Ms Knox had actually sustained the inhuman or degrading treatment of which she had complained."
Within minutes of the decision, Knox, who now lives in Seattle, issued a statement again insisting she was hit.
She said: "I was interrogated for 53 hours over five days, without a lawyer, in a language I understood maybe as well as a ten year old.
"When I told police I had no idea who had killed Meredith I was slapped in the back of the head and told to 'Remember'".
Knox was arrested in 2007 after she told police she “vaguely remembered” another man murdering Meredith in the house they shared in Perugia, Italy.
HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATION
Cops used this as evidence to arrest bar owner Patrick Lumumba in connection with the murder but he was later released without charge.
The ECHR said in its ruling Italian authorities had “violated” her human rights and had “irreparably undermined the fairness of the proceedings as a whole”.
They were also critical of the interpreter she was initially given who was in fact a local police officer.
Knox was initially convicted of murder along with her then boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito in 2007 and served four years before being cleared and released.
Under the complex Italian legal system she and Sollecito were eventually definitively acquitted of murder in 2015.
The conviction for maliciously accusing Lumumba still stands and was what she was arguing against in the ECHR.
Last night the Kercher family, from Coulsdon, Surrey, declined to comment but a source said: "For them its always been a matter of justice for Meredith.
MISCARRIAGE OF JUSTICE
“It appears the charge of malicious accusation still stands but all the family wants to do is get on with their lives, while never forgetting Meredith.”
Their lawyer Francesco Maresca said:”Yet again it has been confirmed there was no physical abuse of Amanda Knox.
“The Kercher family feels dissatisfaction with the Strasbourg court’s rulings along with the outcome of the judicial process in Italy.”
Knox’s Italian lawyer Carlo Dalla Vedova said:”This was the biggest miscarriage of Italian justice in the last 50 years.
"A massive damage was done to this girl.
“It is impossible to compensate Amanda for four years in prison for a mistake. There will be no amount.
“We are not looking for compensation of damages. We are doing this on principal.”
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Sources in Italy said Knox had been looking for £1.7m compensation but the ECHR gave her £9,000 damages and £6,900 towards costs.
There was no immediate response from the Italian government who have three months to reply.
Ivory Coast drifter Rudy Guede, 32, is currently serving 16 years for murder and sexual assault and could be released as early as next year.
