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Amanda Knox has revealed she will not attend a retrial in Italy because she will forever be seen as “the dark lady who decided Meredith had to die”.
Amanda Knox, 26, claims her presence animates the courtroom, detracting from the evidence.
It follows claims by her co-accused and former boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito that Italian police tried to bribe him into framing her.
Since overturning a 26-year jail sentence, Amanda Knox has denied any involvement in the 2007 murder of Leeds University student Meredith Kercher, who was found with her throat slashed in their shared flat in Perugia.
Now living in Seattle, she refuses to answer calls to revisit the evidence at a court Florence.
Amanda Knox told the New York Post nobody in the Perugia court cared about what really happened to Meredith Kercher.
Amanda Knox has revealed she will not attend a retrial in Italy because she will forever be seen as the dark lady who decided Meredith had to die
Branding the court room a “circus”, Amanda Knox claims everybody was more concerned about what she was wearing, how she did her hair or whether she smiled at her parents than the legal proceedings.
In an interview with the Sun on Sunday, Amanda Knox said: “The fact is that my presence has always been a distraction in the courtroom.
“Every single movement I made, every gesture, every facial expression, was the focus of scrutiny and distracted from the evidence in the case.”
Amanda Knox told the paper she had been portrayed during the first trial as “the dark lady…who decided Meredith was better than me and had to die”.
“Projecting that image justifies in their minds that I would be capable of committing a crime so heinous as this and therefore validates the guilty verdict in the first trial,” she said.
But, she added, finance was also a problem: “If it were possible to go to the court and not have to deal with the issues of being afraid of being thrown back in prison again for an arbitrary reason, or for being able to financially afford it, absolutely I would want to be there.”
Italy’s highest criminal court, the Court of Cassation, ruled in March that an appeal court in Florence must re-hear the case against Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito for the murder of 21-year-old Meredith Kercher.
Raffaele Sollecito is due to face a retrial on September 30. But Amanda Knox’s lawyer revealed last month that she will not return to Italy for the new trial.
They were found guilty in December 2009 of murdering Meredith Kercher, with Amanda Knox sentenced to 26 years in prison and Raffaele Sollecito 25.
But, after an 11-month appeal in a Perugia court, both convictions were thrown out in October 2011.
Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito have consistently protested their innocence and claim they were not even in the apartment on the night Meredith Kercher died.
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Hosni Mubarak has appeared in court, three days after being released from prison and placed under house arrest.
The former Egyptian president is facing a retrial on charges of complicity in the killing of protesters during the 2011 uprising.
Hosni Mubarak sat in the defendants’ cage along with his two sons, former interior minister, and six security chiefs.
Earlier, the separate trial of the Muslim Brotherhood’s general guide and his two deputies was adjourned.
The court convened briefly and made its decision because Mohammed Badie, Khairat al-Shater and Rashad Bayoumi were absent for security reasons.
Their presence was requested for the trial’s resumption on October 29.
The Brotherhood leaders face charges of inciting the murder of protesters who stormed the Islamist movement’s headquarters in Cairo on 30 June as millions took to the streets demanding the resignation of Hosni Mubarak’s democratically elected successor, Mohamed Morsi.
Mohamed Morsi was deposed by the military three days later.
Hosni Mubarak has appeared in court, three days after being released from prison and placed under house arrest
He is being detained while prosecutors investigate allegations related to his escape from prison during the uprising that forced Hosni Mubarak from power, including that he conspired with the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
On Sunday, Hosni Mubarak, 85, appeared in the dock inside the high-security courtroom at the police academy on the eastern outskirts of Cairo sitting in a wheelchair, wearing a white tracksuit and dark sunglasses.
He was reportedly flown by helicopter to the court from a military hospital where he has been held under house arrest since his release from prison on Thursday. The hearing has been adjourned until September 14.
Hosni Mubarak was sentenced to life in prison in June 2012 after being found guilty of complicity in the killing of hundreds of protesters. His former interior minister, Habib al-Adly, also received a life sentence, but the security chiefs were acquitted.
The former president and his sons, Alaa and Gamal, were cleared of separate charges of corruption relating to a gas export deal at the same trial because of the statute of limitations.
In January 2013, the Court of Cassation accepted appeals against their convictions by Hosni Mubarak and Habib al-Adly and ordered a retrial of all the defendants. Their supporters had noted that the original trial judge had said there was no evidence linking Hosni Mubarak to the shooting of protesters.
Their retrial began in May but it has been repeatedly adjourned for various reasons, prompting claims from pro-democracy activists and representatives of the victims that the judges and defense team were dragging out proceedings to avoid a verdict.
On Thursday, Hosni Mubarak was moved from a prison cell to house arrest at the hospital in Maadi, ending more than two years of incarceration.
It came a day after a court ruled that he could no longer be detained in relation to a separate corruption case that alleges he accepted gifts from the state-run publisher, al-Ahram. He has already served the maximum time allowed in custody in connection to the complicity case.
Under President Mohamed Morsi, state prosecutors brought new charges when courts ordered Hosni Mubarak’s release to ensure he was kept in detention. Alaa and Gamal Mubarak are being held on multiple corruption charges.
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New reports claim that Amanda Knox will not return to Italy for a retrial in the murder of her roommate Meredith Kercher.
Meanwhile, David Marriott, a spokesman for the Knox family, told CNN that Amanda Knox, 26, had never agreed to attend the re-trial and that there is “no requirement she be there”.
However, Amanda Knox could still be forced to return to Italy if the country requires her extradition from the United States, the network reported.
In an interview in May, Amanda Knox expressed her fear and uncertainty about returning to the country where she was held in prison for several years for the murder of her roommate, 21-year-old Meredith Kercher.
“I’m afraid to go back there,” she told CNN.
“I don’t want to go back to prison.”
Amanda Knox was convicted of the November 2007 murder of the British exchange student, whose body was found in the villa they shared in Perugia, in central Italy.
Her then-boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, was also found guilty of the killing. He received 25 years behind bars, while she was given 26 years.
But the convictions were turned over in 2011 due to “lack of evidence”. The appellate court noted that the murder weapon was never found, said that DNA tests were faulty and that prosecutors provided no murder motive.
Their convictions had come despite a drifter from the Ivory Coast, Rudy Guede, being found guilty of the assault and murder. He is currently serving a 30-year sentence.
After she was acquitted, Amanda Knox returned home to Seattle, Washington, where she remains.
But last year, Italy’s Supreme Court said the ruling was full of “deficiencies, contradictions and illogical” conclusions and ordered the new appeals court to look at all the evidence.
The new court must conduct a full examination of evidence to resolve the ambiguities, the high court judges said.
They said the new appeal process would serve to “not only demonstrate the presence of the two suspects in the place of the crime, but to possibly outline the subjective position of Guede’s accomplices”.
It said hypotheses ran from a simple case of forced intimate relationship involving Meredith Kercher “to a group e**tic game that blew up and got out of control”.
Amanda Knox has said that such claims were “a bombardment of falsehood and fantasy”.
No date for the new trial has been set. Florence’s appeals court was chosen since Perugia only has one appellate court.
Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito have both denied wrongdoing and said they weren’t even in the apartment that night, although they acknowledged they had smoked marijuana and their memories were clouded.
Earlier this year, Amanda Knox said the future was very unsure for her financially and that she is almost broke because of her huge legal bills – despite a $1.5 million book advance.
She will be paid a reported $ 4million in total for her memoir Waiting To Be Heard but claimed that her retrial and a potential libel lawsuits will leave her penniless.
Amanda Knox also revealed that to make money in the future she will be writing more books and will be taking a creative writing course at the University of Washington, near her home in Seattle.
Amanda Knox, who was convicted and then cleared of murdering her British roommate Meredith Kercher, says she may return to Italy to face a retrial.
“My lawyers have said that I don’t have to… I’m still considering it, to be honest,” Amanda Knox told USA Today.
Amanda Knox, 25, also went on TV to publicly protest her innocence as she released her autobiography, Waiting to Be Heard.
Last month, an Italian court overturned her acquittal along with that of her ex-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito.
Meredith Kercher, 21, was found stabbed to death in the flat she shared with Amanda Knox – an exchange student- in Perugia in November 2007.
Prosecutors say she died in a brutal sex game that went wrong.
Another man – Rudy Guede from Ivory Coast – was convicted in a separate trial and sentenced to 16 years for the killing.
Amanda Knox says she may return to Italy to face a retrial in Meredith Kercher murder case
The case has drawn intense media interest in Italy, the UK and the US, and put the Italian police and justice system under great scrutiny.
Amanda Knox told USA Today on Tuesday that the thought of returning to Italy for the retrial was “scary”.
“But it’s also important for me to say: <<This is not just happening far away from and doesn’t matter to me.>>
“So, somehow, I feel it’s important for me to convey that. And if my presence is what is necessary to convey that, then I’ll go.”
The Italian courts cannot compel her to return for the retrial but they could request her extradition – at which point it would be up to the US authorities to determine her fate.
In a separate interview with ABC News, Amanda Knox said claims that she was a “she-devil” and “heartless manipulator” were all wrong.
She added that what happened to her “was surreal but it could’ve happened to anyone”.
“It’s one thing to be called certain things in the media and it’s another thing to be sitting in a courtroom fighting for your life while people are calling you a devil,” Amanda Knox said.
“For all intents and purposes I was a murderer, whether I was or not. I had to live with the idea that that would be my life.”
In a reference to the Kercher family, Amanda Knox said she wanted them to understand “that my need for justice for myself is not in contradiction with theirs”.
Amanda Knox said she hoped “that eventually I can have their permission to pay respects at her grave”.
The interview was timed to coincide with the release of her autobiography, Waiting to Be Heard, for which Amanda Knox was reportedly paid more than $4 million.
In the book, Amanda Knox maintains that on the night of Meredith Kercher’s death she was at Raffaele Sollecito’s flat smoking marijuana and watching a movie.
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A Cairo appeals court has ordered former Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak back to prison from military hospital.
Hosni Mubarak’s retrial will open on May, the court ruled.
The former leader is charged alongside his former interior minister and six former security chiefs with complicity in the murder and attempted murder of hundreds of protesters in January 2011.
Former Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak has been ordered back to prison from military hospital
The retrial was meant to begin on April 13 but collapsed when the presiding judge withdrew from the case.
AFP news agency quotes judicial sources as saying that Judge Mahmud al-Rashidi will preside over the case at the North Cairo Criminal Court.
Hosni Mubarak will also face corruption charges, along with his sons, Alaa and Gamal, and businessman Hussein Salem.
Egypt’s ex-President Hosni Mubarak should no longer be held over the killings of protesters during the revolution that toppled him, a Cairo court has ruled today.
However, Hosni Mubarak will remain in custody as he faces separate corruption charges.
Hosni Mubarak, 84, is awaiting a retrial for conspiring to kill protesters in early 2011.
The former leader’s lawyer successfully argued that he had spent the maximum time in prison under temporary detention.
In June 2012, Hosni Mubarak was sentenced to life in prison for killings committed during the 2011 uprising that ended his decades-long rule, but in January a retrial was ordered because of procedural failings.
Cairo court ruled that Hosni Mubarak should no longer be held over the killings of protesters during the revolution that toppled him
There were chaotic scenes on Saturday as the judge presiding over the retrial, Mustafa Hassan Abdullah, withdrew from the case citing his “unease” in overseeing the proceedings.
The case has been referred to a different court, which is expected to appoint a new panel to hear the retrial.
About 850 people were killed in the 2011 crackdown during the 2011 uprising that ended Hosni Mubarak’s rule.
Hosni Mubarak and former interior minister Habib al-Adly were sentenced to life in prison for conspiring to kill protesters.
But both will be re-tried after they successfully appealed against their convictions, with Egypt’s Court of Cassation citing procedural failings.
Habib al-Adly will also be re-tried for corruption charges.
Hosni Mubarak and his two sons, Gamal and Alaa, will also be re-tried for corruption charges, of which they were found not guilty the first time round.
Egypt’s former president has been in poor health since his arrest and appeared on a stretcher during his first trial and at Saturday’s hearing.
Deaths during the uprising were largely blamed on the police at the time, but last week a report was leaked which implicated the army in serious human rights abuses, including the killing and torture of protesters.
The leaked chapter, reportedly presented to President Mohamed Morsi late last year, contains testimony relating to civilians detained at military checkpoints who were never seen again and reports that the army delivered unidentified bodies to coroners.
Egypt’s Defence Minister Abdel Fatah al-Sissi denied the accusations, calling them a betrayal.
Judge Mustafa Hassan Abdullah presiding over the retrial of ousted Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak has withdrawn himself from the case as the trial opened in Cairo.
There were chaotic scenes as the judge said he was referring the trial to another court.
Hosni Mubarak was convicted in June 2012 of conspiring to kill protesters during the 2011 revolt that ended his rule.
The former president was sentenced to life but a retrial was ordered in January after he appealed against the sentence.
About 850 people were killed in the 2011 crackdown.
Judge Mustafa Hassan Abdullah announced his decision at the start of the retrial at a police academy on the outskirts of Cairo.
Amid shouting in the courtroom – delaying the start of proceedings – the judge said he was referring the case to the Cairo appeals court as he felt “unease” in reviewing the case, Reuters news agency reported.
That court is then expected to appoint a new panel to hear the retrial.
Hosni Mubarak, 84, is in poor health and currently being held in a military hospital in Cairo.
Judge Mustafa Hassan Abdullah presiding over the retrial of ousted Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak has withdrawn himself from the case as the trial opened in Cairo.
On Saturday, he was flown by helicopter to the courthouse at a police academy on the outskirts of Cairo.
State TV showed Hosni Mubarak being wheeled into the building on a stretcher, wearing a white outfit. Wearing dark glasses and with an intravenous cannula on his hand, he later waved to the courtroom from inside a cage.
His first trial, at which he also appeared on a stretcher, lasted 10 months.
Two sons of the former leader, former interior minister Habib al-Adly and six aides will also be re-tried, facing the same charges as before.
Habib al-Adly was sentenced to life last year for contributing to the killing of protesters, and for five and 12 years for corruption charges.
Hosni Mubarak’s sons, Gamal and Alaa, will be retried on corruption charges for which they were acquitted in June, because of the expiry of a statute of limitations.
The former leader was also found not guilty of corruption.
Businessman Hussein Salem, a close associated of Hosni Mubarak, is being retried in his absence – he went to Spain after being cleared of fraud in his first trial.
The 18-day uprising in 2011 ended Hosni Mubarak’s 29-year rule of Egypt.
Families of protesters who died in the crackdown were disappointed that the former leader was not convicted of ordering the killings.
There was also been anger among some that he has not faced trial for abuses allegedly committed earlier in his rule.
News of the retrial has been overshadowed by the political instability and insecurity which followed the revolution.
Deaths during the uprising were largely blamed on the police at the time, but last week a report was leaked which implicated the army in serious human rights abuses at the time, including the killing and torture of protesters.
The leaked chapter, reportedly presented to President Mohamed Morsi late last year, contains testimony relating to civilians detained at military checkpoints who were never seen again and reports that the army delivered unidentified bodies to coroners.
Egypt’s Defence Minister Abdel Fatah al-Sissi denied the accusations, calling them a betrayal.
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Amanda Knox and her former boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito are waiting to find out if their acquittal for the murder of Meredith Kercher will be overturned by Italy’s highest court.
Italy’s Supreme Court judges will rule on Monday on whether there should be a retrial regarding the death of Meredith Kercher or if the case against them should be closed completely.
In 2011 Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito were cleared of the 2007 murder on appeal after they had initially been found guilty and sentenced to 26 and 25 years respectively.
British student Meredith Kercher, 21, was found semi naked and with her throat cut in her bedroom in the house she shared with American Amanda Knox in the picturesque Italian hill top town of Perugia.
The case made headlines around the world amid allegations of sex games, drugs and jealousy during their first trial in 2009.
Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito were found guilty but were cleared two years later after a fresh hearing uncovered a bungled police investigation.
Defence lawyers and experts revealed how evidence had been contaminated or poorly handled by forensic teams and that the conviction should be considered unsafe.
They were immediately freed with Amanda Knox returning to her home in Seattle while Raffaele Sollecito went back to Bisceglie on the southern Italian coast near Bari.
Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito are waiting to find out if their acquittal for the murder of Meredith Kercher will be overturned by Italy’s highest court
Prosecutors in Perugia appealed the decision on behalf of Meredith Kercher’s family and will find out on Monday if they have been successful.
They want the acquittal to be quashed and for a new trial to be held in neighboring Tuscany.
Neither are expected to attend the hearing which will be held behind closed doors in Rome.
The case will decided purely on paperwork and legal documents with no new witnesses giving evidence.
Luciano Ghirga, Amanda Knox’s lawyer, said: “She is very anxious about the hearing but she is waiting for it knowing full well that the outcome is very important.”
Since returning to Seattle in the US, Amanda Knox has kept a low profile although she is due to given an interview to ABC television on April 30 to coincide with the release of a book about her four years in an Italian jail.
Raffaele Sollecito has also written a book and has already given an interview on Italian TV about the case where he said he and Amanda Knox were no longer lovers but they were still in touch – he visited her earlier this year and they speak on Skype regularly.
He is now studying in Verona and they have always insisted they are innocent of Leeds University student Meredith Kercher’s murder – she had only been in Italy for two months before she was killed having arrived from Coulsdon for a year long course as part of her degree.
During the investigation and trial much was made of Amanda Knox’s character with prosecutors saying she was highly sexual and had manipulated Raffaele Sollecito but her lawyers dismissed the theory.
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Egypt’s former President Hosni Mubarak will face retrial on April 13, the country’s appeal court has decided.
Hosni Mubarak faces charges of conspiring to kill protesters during the 2011 revolt that forced him from power, and corruption.
A retrial was ordered in January after a court accepted his appeal against the life sentence he had been serving since his conviction last June.
Hosni Mubarak, 84, is currently in a military hospital. About 850 people were killed in the 2011 crackdown.
Hosni Mubarak will face retrial on April 13
A court in Egypt has ordered a retrial for ex-President Hosni Mubarak after accepting an appeal against his life sentence over the deaths of protesters.
Hosni Mubarak, 84, was overthrown last year after mass street protests in the capital Cairo and other cities, and jailed in June.
Since he was jailed, there have been frequent reports about his ill-health.
Hosni Mubarak ruled Egypt for almost 30 years, surviving at least six assassination attempts, before last year’s revolt.
Mohammed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood was elected president in June.
A court in Egypt has ordered a retrial for ex-President Hosni Mubarak after accepting an appeal against his life sentence over the deaths of protesters
