Who is Patrick Lumumba? Amanda Knox appeals defamation conviction after false accusation
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON STATE: Amanda Knox is appealing her defamation conviction after falsely accusing Patrick Lumumba, a Congolese barman, of murdering British student Meredith Kercher in Italy in 2007.
Knox, who was Kercher’s roommate, initially told investigators that she had seen Lumumba at their house on the night of the murder and that he had slit Kercher’s throat while she covered her ears to block out the screams.
Why is Amanda Knox appealing her defamation conviction?
Knox, who is now 36 and pregnant with her second child with her husband Christopher Robinson, has filed an appeal to annul her conviction for defaming Lumumba.
Knox claims that her defense rights were violated during the initial investigation, Daily Mail reported, citing a source.
She is basing her appeal on a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights that found that Italy had failed to provide her with a lawyer and an interpreter during her interrogation, the publication reported.
The false accusation landed Amanda Knox into a three-year sentence that she has already completed.
Lumumba, an innocent father of two, was arrested and spent two weeks in jail before being released without a charge.
Lumumba was released after an alibi by a Swiss lecturer who had visited his Le Chic bar on the night of the murder and had kept a receipt which showed Lumumba was working at the time.
Why did Amanda Knox provide false statements to frame Patrick Lumumba?
Amanda Knox said that her false statements against Lumumba, the bar manager at the time, were due to being "stressed and agitated" while being questioned by the police.
She further said that she lied to the detectives that she "covered" her ears to drown out Meredith's screams as Lumumba murdered her.
Amanda Knox and her boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito were initially accused of killing Meredith Kercher, but they were cleared of the murder charge.
They spent three years in prison. However, Knox was still found guilty of lying to the police and got an extra year added to her sentence, which she had already served.
How has Patrick Lumumba reacted to the appeal?
Patrick Lumumba now lives in Poland’s Krakow with his spouse and two children. He has rejected Knox’s appeal and said that he wants to honor “truth and justice and the memory of Meredith Kercher”.
He told the publication, “Through my legal team, I will be opposing Amanda Knox’s request because I wish to respect truth and justice and the memory of Meredith Kercher.”
The case is due to be heard in Italy’s Court of Cassation in Rome later this year and Knox is not expected to attend as she is pregnant.
Who is serving the sentence for Meredith Kercher's murder?
The only person still in jail for Meredith Kercher's murder is Rudy Guede, an Ivory Coast drifter who was sentenced to 16 years in prison but has always maintained his innocence.
He reportedly was recently released on parole after serving more than half of his term.
Meredith Kercher, from Coulsdon, south London, was a 21-year-old student at the University of Leeds who was studying in Perugia as part of her degree course.
She had been in Italy for less than two months when she was brutally killed in her bedroom on November 1, 2007. Her death sparked a media frenzy and a complex legal saga that has lasted for more than a decade.