Trial opens for US suspect in Italy
Güncelleme Tarihi:
AP
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Ocak 17, 2009 00:00
PERUGIA - An American college student and her Italian former boyfriend went on trial Friday accused of sexually assaulting and murdering her roommate in a slaying that shocked Italy. Amanda Knox from Seattle and her ex-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito appeared in front of an eight-member jury in the tiny courthouse in Perugia, central Italy, for the first session of what is expected to be a long trial.
The defendants - who both proclaim their innocence - were indicted in October for the slaying of 21-year-old British student Meredith Kercher, who was found stabbed to death in 2007 in the apartment she shared with Knox in Perugia, a picturesque, medieval city 115 miles (185 kilometers) north of Rome.
Knox, 21, wearing jeans and a gray, hooded sweat shirt, smiled and chatted with an interpreter, while Sollecito, 24, wearing beige trousers and a bright green sweater, looked tense. The two were seated next to their lawyers and guarded by prison officers. Kercher's family is seeking to have the proceedings closed to the public and the media to prevent the publication of sensitive evidence. According to Italian law, trials are normally open but can be held behind closed doors in sexual violence cases.
Both Knox and Sollecito, who are accused of murder and sexual assault, were denied bail and have been detained for more than a year in Italy.
A third suspect, Ivory Coast national Rudy Hermann Guede, was sentenced to 30 years in prison last year after being convicted on the same charges. Guede, who had also denied wrongdoing, underwent a fast-track trial at his request.
Knox, a University of Washington student, was on an exchange program in Italy and sharing a Perugia flat with Kercher, an exchange student from Leeds University in England, when the Briton was found dead in their apartment Nov. 2, 2007.
Prosecutors allege that the woman was killed during what began as a sex game, with Sollecito holding her by the shoulders from behind while Knox touched her with the point of a knife. They say Guede tried to sexually assault Kercher, and then Knox fatally stabbed her in the throat.
Knox, 21, wearing jeans and a gray, hooded sweat shirt, smiled and chatted with an interpreter, while Sollecito, 24, wearing beige trousers and a bright green sweater, looked tense. The two were seated next to their lawyers and guarded by prison officers. Kercher's family is seeking to have the proceedings closed to the public and the media to prevent the publication of sensitive evidence. According to Italian law, trials are normally open but can be held behind closed doors in sexual violence cases.
Both Knox and Sollecito, who are accused of murder and sexual assault, were denied bail and have been detained for more than a year in Italy.
A third suspect, Ivory Coast national Rudy Hermann Guede, was sentenced to 30 years in prison last year after being convicted on the same charges. Guede, who had also denied wrongdoing, underwent a fast-track trial at his request.
Knox, a University of Washington student, was on an exchange program in Italy and sharing a Perugia flat with Kercher, an exchange student from Leeds University in England, when the Briton was found dead in their apartment Nov. 2, 2007.
Prosecutors allege that the woman was killed during what began as a sex game, with Sollecito holding her by the shoulders from behind while Knox touched her with the point of a knife. They say Guede tried to sexually assault Kercher, and then Knox fatally stabbed her in the throat.