Amanda Knox breaks her silence on new trial in Italy while Rudy Guede ‘who murdered my roommate is free from prison’ is accused of raping and assaulting his ex-girlfriend
- Amanda Knox is facing a new trial after her slander conviction was overturned
Amanda Knox has insisted she is still ‘fighting to clear her name’ while the man who savagely murdered her roommate is ‘free from prison’ and has been accused of rape and sexual assault by his ex-girlfriend.
Knox, 36, was initially convicted of murdering British exchange student Meredith Kercher, 21, at their home in the university town of Perugia, Italy, in November 2007.
She served nearly four years with her then boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito before their convictions were sensationally quashed.
Her conviction for slandering a barman, who she falsely accused of the murder, was not dismissed at the time, although Italy’s highest court overturned this in October and have ordered a new trial in Florence.
It was Rudy Guede who was ultimately convicted of murdering Ms Kercher and he was sentenced to 30 years behind bars in 2008. This was later reduced to 18 years and with good behaviour he was freed on parole in 2021.
Amanda Knox (pictured at her parents’ home in Seattle in 2015) has insisted she is still ‘fighting to clear her name’ while the man who savagely murdered her roommate is ‘free from prison’
Meredith Kercher killer Rudy Guede, 36, (pictured arriving at an interrogation hearing on 10 December) has now been charged with assaulting his ex-girlfriend following his release from jail
British student Meredith Kercher was in Italy as part of her University of Leeds degree course and had only been in the country for less than two months before she was murdered
In June he was discharged from his sentence, but it emerged earlier this month he has been charged with assaulting his 23-year-old ex-girlfriend.
EXCLUSIVE: Woman who claims she was raped by Meredith Kercher’s killer Rudy Guede speaks about their ‘violent relationship’ and says ‘he left me bruised and violated’
Speaking out on X, formerly Twitter, Knox wrote last night: ’16 years after my arrest, I’m still on trial in Italy, still fighting to clear my name.’
She continued: ‘Meanwhile, the man who murdered my roommate is free from prison’, while she then referenced his latest charges.
Knox has also spoken about the retrial and how she will have to testify in a new podcast.
She added: ‘We spend a lot of time digging into the coercive interrogation that led to my arrest, and to the slander charges I’m still on trial for.
‘In particular, we go over the hand-written statement I gave the police after they released me from the pressure-cooker of the interrogation.
‘Reading back through that statement I wrote at 20 years old was….difficult. I have never been more fragile, more vulnerable, more gaslit and confused, and at the mercy of authority figures whom I had trusted to keep me safe, and who were in the process of destroying my life.’
In another tweet, she added: I am not afraid to travel back to Italy and take the stand in my defense. I was so unprepared to do so as a 20-year-old. All these years later, I finally am. And I want my daughter and my son to see what standing up for the truth and for your princples [sic] looks like.’
Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito both spent nearly four years in prison after being wrongly convicted of murder
Knox initially told investigators innocent barman Patrick Lumumba had killed Ms Kercher by slitting her throat and leaving her bleeding to death.
She had claimed she had seen the Congolese barman at the house she shared with Meredith, 21, in the Italian hilltop town of Perugia in November 2007.
It led to the innocent father-of-two being arrested and held by police for two weeks before being released without charge after an alibi had a key receipt which showed him working at the time.
Kercher was found semi-naked and with her throat cut in the bedroom of her house in the hilltop town – just weeks after arriving for a year abroad with her Leeds University course.
Guede was found guilty after his DNA was discovered on Kercher’s body despite his claims that he was in the bathroom listening to music when she was killed.
Her body was found in her bedroom, partially undressed, with 47 stab wounds.
He was freed on parole in 2021 following good behaviour in prison and has been living in the town of Viterbo where he works as a researcher and librarian at the Centre for Crime, Judicial and Sociological studies.
Rudy Guede leaves a court hearing in Perugia in September 2008. He was jailed for murdering Ms Kercher
He has also been studying for a Master’s in Historical Sciences at Rome Tre university.
Following his release from prison, Guede said: ‘The sentence I had to serve in the name of the law has ended. Now I am left marked by the judgement of strangers, by the slanted glances as I pass.’
But Guede has now been charged with assaulting his 23-year-old ex-girlfriend – six months after he was officially released from jail over Kercher’s murder.
The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, filed a complaint against Guede earlier this year.
A judge ordered him to wear an electronic tag and he is forbidden to go within 500 metres of his ex-partner, who is an experienced horse rider.
The woman who first met Guede two years ago said: ‘Rudy started to abuse me from the start of our relationship, but I would always forgive him.
‘Even when he left bruises on my body, and he would then unbelievably blame me. Rudy destroyed me, he controlled me, violated me and humiliated me.
‘I don’t want any other woman to go through what I went through.’
Mr Sollecito, who was acquitted over the Brit’s murder along with his then-girlfriend Knox, also said ‘it seems Guede has not changed’ after he was charged with assaulting his girlfriend.
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