Yesterday, a court in Florence reconvicted Amanda Knox for slander in relation to accusations she made against Patrick Lumumba following the murder of her British roommate, Meredith Kercher, in Italy in 2007.
Knox was wrongfully convicted of Meredith’s murder in 2009, along with her ex-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito. She was eventually acquitted in 2011 of any involvement in the murder after her conviction was overturned by Italy’s highest court.
Until last year, Knox had remained convicted of slander in relation to accusations she made against Patrick Lumumba, a local bar owner, during her own interrogation for Meredith’s murder. The accusations led to Mr Lumumba spending two weeks in prison, until he was released following an alibi from a customer. However, it was claimed he had suffered reputational damage as a result.
However, last year, Italy’s Supreme Court quashed Knox’s conviction for slander and ordered a retrial after a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights in 2019 which found that Knox’s rights were violated when she was questioned without a lawyer or official translator.
Knox argued during the retrial this week that her slander conviction should not be reinstated due to her treatment by the police. She claimed to have been coerced by the police into implicating Patrick Lumumba during a 53-hour span of questioning over four days. Knox explained, ‘The police threatened me with 30 years in prison, an officer slapped me three times saying ‘Remember remember.’
However, her arguments were rejected as the court reconvicted Knox of slander yesterday, although she will not need to return to prison due to time already served. Following the verdict, Knox cried and hugged her husband. Her lawyer added that ‘Amanda is very upset, she was hoping finally to clear her name’.
Following her exoneration for Meredith’s murder, Knox has established herself in the US as an advocate for criminal justice, writer, podcaster and producer, with much of her work drawing on her experiences in the Italian legal system.
Rudy Guede was convicted in 2008 of the sexual assault and murder of Meredith Kercher after his DNA was found at the scene. Guede was released from prison in 2021 after serving 13 years.
Former Perugia public prosecutor Giuliano Mignini, who led the murder investigation, told Sky News that ‘there may still be a culprit who took part in the murder and who has not been discovered yet’.