FLORENCE – The Court of Cassation confirmed a slander conviction appeal made by Amanda Knox concerning a false accusation against her former boss Patrick Lumumba.

 During the original case hearings in 2007 Knox, 20 at the time, signed two statements that accused Lumumba of the murder. He had spent two weeks in jail until investigators realized his DNA was absent from the crime scene. The testimony of a Swiss Professor stated that on the night of the murder he was working in his pub, where Knox was a waitress.

 The case began when Knox was on an exchange program in Perugia and was accused of murdering her roommate in 2007. Knox and her then-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito were fully exonerated in 2015, but Knox's separate conviction for slander for the false accusation made towards Lumumba still stood.

 In 2023, Knox requested to the European Court of Human Rights that her rights were violated during the 2007 interrogation which led to her false accusation of Lumumba. In June 2024, the Court of Cassation accepted the appeal which led to Thursday night’s hearing. During the hearing Knox told the panel of judges that she regrets not withdrawing the accusation sooner but pleaded that she was “a young person in an existential crisis” when she accused him.

 After four hours of deliberation within the court, a decision was reached by the judges of the First Section of the Court of Cassation. The judges rejected the appeal made by Knox’s defense and sided with the prosecution who stated that Amanda had accused Lumumba of the murder knowing he was innocent.

 Knox, who did not attend the hearing, posted a response to the verdict on X and stated “It’s a surreal day. I’ve just been found guilty yet again of a crime I didn’t commit. And I was just awarded the Innocence Network Impact Award, ‘created to honor an exonerated person who raises awareness of wrongful convictions, policy issues, or assists others post-release.” She continued the post by saying that the police, “were never held accountable for the crimes they committed against me behind closed doors.”

 Lumumba spoke to reporters after the verdict was reached and stated that he felt “satisfied” after today and that, “Amanda did wrong, this sentence must accompany her for the rest of her life. I had a good feeling about this since the afternoon. I hail Italian justice with great honor.”

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