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Amanda Knox wiped away tears as she returned to an Italian court Wednesday — where she was then re-convicted of slander, years after being exonerated in the 2007 slaying of her British roommate.

Knox was visibly upset as she was swarmed arriving at the Florence court, only her second time back in Italy since she was freed in 2011.

She was then sentenced to three years in prison for wrongly accusing an innocent bar owner of killing her 21-year-old roommate, Meredith Kercher, as she sought to clear her own name in the shocking murder case.


  Amanda Knox arrives at Italy Court in Florence for a verdict to be made in her slander case on June 5, 2024. REUTERS Amanda Knox arrives at Italy Court in Florence for a verdict to be made in her slander case on June 5, 2024. REUTERS

  Knox had not returned to Italy following her 2011 conviction. REUTERS Knox had not returned to Italy following her 2011 conviction. REUTERS

Despite the sentence, the now-36-year-old won’t serve any more jail time because it counts as time already served.

Despite wiping away tears as she arrived at the courthouse, Knox showed no visible emotion as the verdict was read aloud.

“Amanda is very upset,” said one of her lawyers, Carlo Dalla Vedova.

“She was looking to have a final point of all this, 17 years now, judicial procedure.”

Another of her lawyers, Luca Luparia Donati, also said that “Amanda feels very bitter” at the verdict.


  The slaying of 21-year-old Meredith Kercher fueled global headlines as suspicion fell on Knox. AP The slaying of 21-year-old Meredith Kercher fueled global headlines as suspicion fell on Knox. AP

Ahead of the hearing, Knox had taken to social media to say she hoped to “clear my name once and for all of the false charges against me. Wish me luck.”

Knox has remained in the public eye ever since she and then-boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, were arrested for killing Kercher in the town of Perugia back in November 2007.

At the time, Knox had wrongly accused Congolese bar owner, Patrick Lumumba, of stabbing her roommate 47 times.


  Knox, a 20-year-old exchange student from Seattle at the time, and her new Italian boyfriend of just a week, Raffaele Sollecito were originally accused of killing Kercher. AP Knox, a 20-year-old exchange student from Seattle at the time, and her new Italian boyfriend of just a week, Raffaele Sollecito were originally accused of killing Kercher. AP

  The court found that Knox had wrongly accused an innocent man, Diya “Patrick” Lumumba, the Congolese owner of the bar where she worked part time, of the killing. AP The court found that Knox had wrongly accused an innocent man, Diya “Patrick” Lumumba, the Congolese owner of the bar where she worked part time, of the killing. AP

  Amanda Knox is escorted by police upon her arrival at a court hearing in Perugia on September 26, 2008. AFP via Getty Images Amanda Knox is escorted by police upon her arrival at a court hearing in Perugia on September 26, 2008. AFP via Getty Images

What followed was an eight-year legal roller coaster that resulted in multiple flip-flop verdicts after Knox was convicted of both murder and slander.

After serving four years for Kercher’s slaying, Knox was cut loose from prison in October 2011 after an appeals court overturned the initial guilty verdict in the murder case.

Knox remained in the US through two more flip-flop verdicts before Italy’s highest court definitively exonerated her and Sollecito of the murder in 2015.


  Raffaele Sollecito, the former boyfriend of Knox arrived at Florence’s courthouse on Jan. 30, 2014. AFP via Getty Images Raffaele Sollecito, the former boyfriend of Knox arrived at Florence’s courthouse on Jan. 30, 2014. AFP via Getty Images

Then last fall, Italy’s highest court tossed the slander conviction that had withstood five trials after finding Knox’s human rights had been violated during a long night of questioning days after Kercher’s murder because, in part, she’d been deprived of both a lawyer and a competent translator.

Knox had earlier accused Italian cops of threats and violence during the questioning.

“The police threatened me with 30 years in prison, an officer slapped me three times saying ‘Remember, remember’,” she told the court on Wednesday, saying that 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.

During the latest trial, which marked the last outstanding case against Knox, the court had been ordered to disregard two damaging statements typed by police and signed by Knox at 1:45 a.m. and 5:45 a.m. as she was held for questioning overnight on Nov. 6, 2007.

In the statements, Knox said she remembered hearing Kercher scream, and pointed to Lumumba for the killing.


  Knox and husband Christopher Robinson arrived at the courthouse on June 5, 2024. AFP via Getty Images Knox and husband Christopher Robinson arrived at the courthouse on June 5, 2024. AFP via Getty Images

Hours later, still in custody at about 1 p.m., she asked for pen and paper and wrote her own statement in English, questioning the version that she had signed.

“In regards to this ‘confession’ that I made last night, I want to make clear that I’m very doubtful of the verity of my statements because they were made under the pressure of stress, shock and extreme exhaustion,” she wrote.

Lumumba was ultimately held for two weeks in 2007 before he was freed.

“When Patrick was accused by Amanda, he became known everywhere as the monster of Perugia,” Lumumba’s lawyer Carlo Pacelli told reporters on Wednesday.

Lumumba was not in court for the verdict.

Rudy Guede, originally from the Ivory Coast, was ultimately sentenced to 16 years in jail for Kercher’s killing. He was granted early release in 2021.

With Post wires

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