Prosecutors in Perugia, Italy, followed through on their promise to appeal the reversal of Amanda Knox's murder conviction, the Christian Science Monitor reported. Knox's family called the move "harassment" but noted it was expected, ABC News said.
Knox's lawyers told the Daily Beast that if the Italian court finds error in her release and orders a retrial, she would not attend. This move would keep Knox outside the jurisdiction of Italian authorities. While Italy could make an extradition request if its high court re-established Knox's sentence, the decision would be in the hands of U.S. authorities whether or not to return Knox to Italy.
While Italian lawyers say the scope of the court review in the Knox case is extremely limited, according to CNN, there have been high-profile international cases where acquittals were overturned.
* In India, Santosh Singh was acquitted by a court of raping and murdering a law student he'd been accused of stalking, Priyadarshini Mattoo. Singh was a lawyer and son of a police officer. The public was outraged and prosecutors filed an appeal. The High Court overturned the acquittal and imposed the death sentence on Singh, CNN reported. That sentence was commuted to a life sentence based on mitigating circumstances, including Singh's marriage and the birth of a daughter as well as the court's reliance on circumstantial evidence, the Hindustan Times said.
* In Colombia in 2007, a judge reversed the conviction of Principe Gabriel Gonzalez on terror and rebellion charges. Two years after Gonzalez was freed, a court reversed the acquittal and sentenced him to seven more years in prison. In December 2010, the Colombia Supreme Court refused to hear his appeal, according to the Los Angeles Times. The warrant for his arrest was reactivated, but he was living abroad at the time. He was arrested in August when he returned to Colombia to care for his terminally ill mother. He is now in prison in Pamploma. His supporters are asking President Juan Manuel Santos to issue a pardon. Gonzalez was a coordinator of a human rights organization. His conviction prompted protest by Human Rights First and various political entities, including the Colombian president, vice president, attorney general, ambassador to the U.S., President George W. Bush, the State Department and United Nations human rights bodies, Human Rights First reported.
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