Amanda Knox slams decision to release Meredith Kercher’s killer 12 years after he was jailed
File image: Amanda Knox speaks out over the release of convicted criminal in Kercher’s murder
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Amanda Knox has slammed an early release of the man convicted in the killing of Meredith Kercher, her British roommate in Italy 13-years-ago, saying that she wishes “he had been fully held accountable for what he did.”
Ms Knox, who spent four years in an Italian prison in the case of Kercher’s death before getting acquitted in 2015, said she was dismayed at the release of Rudy Guede, who was sentenced to 30 years of jail for killing the British exchange student in November 2007.
“I do know that many, many, many people have suffered a great deal because of what he did and I continue to this day to be shocked that he is the forgotten killer,” Ms Knox told ABC News.
“I continue to this day to be shocked that he is the forgotten killer. The one who was quietly tucked away, convicted of a lesser crime, and does not have to live with the burden of forever being associated with Meredith’s death."
The 33-year-old was serving his jail term for murder after being convicted in 2008. He was 20 at the time when Kercher was found sexually assaulted and stabbed in her room in Perugia, Italy. His DNA was found at the scene.
Guede’s sentence was later reduced to 16 years and further changed to partial prison so he could attend school and get a master’s degree. He also started working at a criminology centre.
On Friday, the Italian court granted him permission to serve the rest of his term, which was supposed to end in March 2022, through community service.
Ms Knox, who was also convicted in the same case along with her then-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito in a separate trial in 2009, said she was disturbed that the “burden” of Guede’s conviction continues to impact her more than a decade later.
Kercher’s case and the arrest of Ms Knox had drawn huge media attention. Ms Knox is now an advocate and fights for the rights of wrongly convicted.
Born in the Ivory Coast and raised in Italy, Guede was the only person who still serves a sentence in the high profile case that saw several arrests, though Italy's top appeals court stated in 2014 that he did not act alone.
However, Guede continues to deny the charges of murdering Kercher.
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