Residents of the Italian town where Amanda Knox was accused of murdering her roommate Meredith Kercher 17 years ago say she has not talked about the case until years after her murder acquittal. He is reportedly furious that he has returned to filming a TV drama.
When the cast and crew of Knox's upcoming biopic began filming under the windows of his Perugia home, hotelier Walter Cardinali posted a message to the actors on the bedsheets hanging from the window: “Rispetto per Meredith.
“Perugia could not protect Meredith, but we can protect her memory,” he said. times.
Knox, 20, who was in Italy on an exchange program from Leeds University, found Kercher dead in their shared apartment on November 2, 2007, with 47 stab wounds. She and her former Italian boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, were both charged in the Kercher affair. murder.
Amanda Knox 'appalled' after Italian Supreme Court finds her guilty in defamation case
Amanda Knox was convicted and jailed for murdering and sexually assaulting her British roommate Meredith Kercher in the university city of Perugia in 2007, but was ultimately acquitted. (Antonio Calanni)
The Seattle native spent four years in an Italian prison after her British roommate was murdered. Despite prosecutors claiming she had taken part in a “misguided sex game,” Knox was acquitted of murder by Italy's highest court after serving a four-year sentence.
Rudy Guede, the only person definitively convicted of Karcher's murder whose fingerprints and DNA were found at the scene, was released in 2021 after serving 13 years of a 16-year sentence. .
An eight-part documentary series about the story is titled “Blue Moon” and is produced by Hulu, a Disney company. Ms Knox's case was previously depicted in a 2011 made-for-TV movie, her 2013 memoir Waiting to be Heard, and a 2016 Netflix documentary.
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Local councilor Margherita Scoccia criticized Mayor Vittoria Fernandi and Perugia authorities for allowing Mr Knox to film in the city, which has long tried to recover from the events of 2007.
“Seventeen years ago, Perugia was shocked by the murder of Meredith Kercher, which sadly made Perugia's name known around the world,” she said. “Today, that tragedy is remembered and sensationalized in a television series produced by this American. This man remains in public memory only for his involvement in that crime and his sensational acquittal.”
Amanda Knox re-convicted on defamation charges in Italy over 2007 murder of roommate
Italian Amanda Knox (left) and her then-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito are pictured outside the rented house where 21-year-old British student Meredith Kercher was found dead in Perugia, Italy, in 2007. are. (File photo/AP)
Fernandi later apologized for allowing the filming, the Times reported.
“We're in Gotham City, Italy, with 'murder' tourists coming to see the house that Knox and Kercher shared,” Scoccia told the Times. “We don't want to go back to that situation.”
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The newspaper said the international high profile of Karcher's murder led to bars, restaurants and clubs in Peru closing and enrollment at two of the city's universities to plummet.
What you need to know about the latest trial involving Amanda Knox
Meredith Kercher (Italian Police/File)
Giuliano Mignini, the lead prosecutor at Ms Knox's first trial who helped keep her in prison for four years, told the Times that Italy's highest court should have ordered a retrial in 2015 rather than throw out the case. He said that the decision was made under the following conditions: US pressure on judges.
Rudy Guede and Amanda Knox (AP/Getty)
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However, he said he had a good impression of Knox when he visited her again in 2022 and again in June of this year.
“Even though I was asking for a life sentence for her, she came to see me. It was a positive surprise. Even if I was wrong with her, she was always honest with me. He said he had spoken to him. There was no grudge,” he told the Times.
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Angelo Messino, the new manager of the bar where Knox worked as a bartender while living in Perugia, closed after the murder but is now called “The Zoo” and formerly called “Le Chic.” Although it is close to reopening, it has not been very forgiving.
“I don't like them filming here,” he told the outlet. “It's time for her to shut up.”
Earlier this year, Ms. Knox was found guilty in an Italian court of defamation after accusing her then-boss at the bar, Patrick Lumumba, of causing Ms. Kercher's death during a tense police interrogation in a language she was still learning. . She was sentenced to three years in prison, but did not return to prison because she had served her term.
