Italy's supreme Cassation Court late
on Thursday upheld the remaining conviction against Amanda Knox,
an American citizen who was jailed and later acquitted of the
2007 murder of her British flatmate Meredith Kercher.
The Cassation upheld a ruling issued last year by an appeals
court in Florence that handed Knox, 37, a three-year sentence
for unjustly accusing Congolese bar owner Patrick Lumumba of
killing Kercher in the Umbria city of Perugia.
The conviction has no practical impact on Knox, who has already
served four years in jail for the killing of Kercher before the
conviction was scrapped in 2015.
After Kercher's murder, Knox signed police statements in which
she accused Lumumba even though, the Cassation's State attorney
contended during the trial, she knew he was innocent.
Lumumba was arrested following Knox's testimony and spent two
weeks in jail until his release over the lack of any evidence
against him.
His bar, where Knox worked part time, closed shortly after.
Speaking after the sentence, Lumumba said he was "very satisfied
because Amanda made a mistake and this conviction must accompany
her all her life".
Knox's defence lawyer said the sentence was "totally unexpected
and unfair".
The 37-year-old, who did not attend the hearing and remained in
the US with her family, also later told her lawyers she was
"disappointed and disheartened".
"Why did Amanda Knox slander Patrick Lumumba?", attorney
Francesco Maresca, who represents the family of the murdered
British student, told ANSA.
"This is the big question of the trial for Meredith Kercher's
murder", added Maresca, noting the sentence did not bring
closure for the victim's family and "those who worked for the
truth".
The ruling ended a 17-year legal saga that saw Knox and her
Italian ex-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito convicted and then
acquitted over the brutal murder of the British student, before
being exonerated by the Cassation in 2015.
The slander conviction against Knox remained the last case
against her over the 2007 killing that gripped the public on
both sides of the Atlantic and inspired books and TV shows.
Rudy Guede, originally from the Ivory Coast, was convicted for
the murder of 21-year-old Kercher and sentenced to 16 years in
prison.
The sentence said he had committed the murder with other
unidentified culprits.
Guede was granted early release in 2021.
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