Amanda Knox, the American woman wrongfully convicted of and jailed for the 2007 murder of British student Meredith Kercher in Italy, has been slapped with a jail sentence for a slander offence relating to the case.
Knox, who was in court for the verdict, had been sentenced to three years for wrongly accusing Congolese bar owner Patrick Lumumba of killing Kercher.
But the sentence will have no practical impact as it is covered by the time Knox spent in jail before her conviction for the killing of British student Meredith Kercher in Perugia was annulled in 2015.
Though regardless of the outcome, the US citizen could be seen tearing up at her appearance at the Palace of Justice courthouse in Florence.
Amanda Knox was seen breaking down on the day of the verdict in the slander case
Reuters
Her lawyer, Luca Luparia Donati, said "Amanda feels very bitter" in an initial response - adding that his client planned to appeal the ruling.
The now-36-year-old Knox had earlier accused Italian police of threats and violence as she sought to clear her name in the last outstanding case against her.
On Wednesday, she told the court: "The police threatened me with 30 years in prison, an officer slapped me three times saying 'Remember, remember," and claimed police wanted her to blame Lumumba.
"I'm very sorry that I wasn't strong enough to withstand the pressure from the police," she added, speaking in Italian.
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Amanda Knox walks on the day of the verdict in the slander case at Italy Court in Florence
Reuters
The stabbing of 21-year-old Kercher and multiple trials have inspired books, films and significant media coverage in both the UK and US.
In 2019, the European Court of Human Rights had ruled that there had been procedural errors during Knox's questioning.
On the back of that, in 2023, Italy's highest court ordered another trial in the slander case.
Lumumba had been held for two weeks in 2007 before he was freed.
The bar owner's lawyer said: "When Patrick was accused by Amanda, he became known everywhere as the monster of Perugia" and called for the conviction not to be upheld. Lumumba was not in court.
Rudy Guede, originally from the Ivory Coast, was sentenced to 16 years in jail for the killing of Kercher, in a ruling that said he acted with unnamed other culprits. He was granted early release in 2021.
"Amanda is very upset... from the outcome of this hearing, she was looking to have a final point of all this, 17 years now, judicial procedure," lawyer Carlo Dalla Vedova said.
Knox, who campaigns for "social justice" and has her own podcast, made no comment as she left the court in Tuscan capital Florence.