ern's: Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito's acquittal challenged by prosecutors

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito's acquittal challenged by prosecutors

Italian prosecutors appeal against the verdict that cleared Knox and Sollecito of Meredith Kercher's murder in Perugia

Italian prosecutors have filed an appeal against the acquittal of Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito for the murder of the British student Meredith Kercher in Perugia.

Knox and Sollecito were initially handed 26- and 25-year sentences for the fatal stabbing of Kercher, who was found partially clothed with her neck slashed in her apartment in November 2007.

The pair were acquitted on appeal last October after a court ruled that Knox had been pressured to make compromising statements during interrogation and that key DNA evidence was poorly handled.

Under Italian law, both prosecutors and the accused have the right to take cases to a second appeal at Italy's supreme court, and the filing on Tuesday was expected. Depositing the 111-page appeal, the prosecutor Giancarlo Costagliola said: "I immediately had the feeling that the appeal decision was profoundly unjust and now I am convinced that it should be annulled."

A local drifter, Rudy Guede, was given a definitive conviction in a separate trial for his role in the murder.

Reacting to news of the appeal, Sollecito said: "This is a story that never ends. For me it's a real torment which has lasted for four years."

The supreme court will not reconsider evidence and cannot convict but will examine whether correct legal procedures were followed. Should it decide procedures were violated, it will order a retrial.

Prosecutors have previously questioned whether the appeal court was within its rights to order the review of DNA evidence that proved crucial to the acquittal.

Carlo dalla Vedova, a lawyer representing Knox, said: "Hypothetically speaking, should there be a new hearing, it would be held in Florence. But I doubt the supreme court will rule before the end of 2012. Then you would need months to fix a new hearing and neither the supreme court nor the court in Florence could order the defendants to be taken into custody before a final verdict, which would be three to four years from now."

Knox moved back to her home town in Seattle after serving four years in jail in Perugia. Asked whether she could be extradited from the US should a new trial find her guilty, Dalla Vedova said: "There is an extradition treaty between Italy and the US which is automatic for Italian citizens, but in the case of US citizens you would need approval from the US government."

Knox has launched an appeal of her own against the three-year sentence she received for initially claiming that a local barman, Patrick Lumumba, was in the house the night Kercher was killed. Lumumba was arrested and then released when his alibi stood up. Knox's sentence was upheld on appeal although she was freed having already served the time.

Knox is still on trial in Italy charged with falsely claiming that Italian police hit her during her interrogation.

Tom Kington