Almost twenty years after the murder of Meredith KercherRaffaele Sollecito’s name returns to the center of television attention. This evening the former student from Puglia will be Francesca Fagnani’s guest on the program Beast Crimewhere he will retrace one of the most important judicial and media events controversial of the last decades in Italy.
The case ofkilling of the English student in Perugia, which occurred in November 2007shocked Italian and international public opinion. For years Sollecito and Amanda Knox were at the center of investigations, trials, convictions and then acquittals, until the final ruling of the Supreme Court of Cassation in 2015 which definitively acquitted them. The only one definitively convicted for complicity in murder and sexual violence, in 2008, is Rudy Guede who according to the Court of Cassation would have acted together with “others” never identified. Judged with an abbreviated trial, it was sentenced to 16 years in prison. After having served his sentence, also benefiting from early release, Guede he returned to freedom in November 2021.
WHO IS RAFFAELE SOLLECITO
Raffaele Sollecito was born on 26 March 1984 in Giovinazzoin the province of Bari, in a wealthy family. The father, Francesco Sollecito, is a well-known urologist from Puglia, while the mother works as a teacher. He grew up between Giovinazzo and Bisceglie, in a quiet environment away from the spotlight.
In 2007, after graduating, he moved to Perugia to study computer science at university. Passionate about technology and computers, he lives the normal daily life of a student away from home in the Umbrian capital.
In the autumn of 2007 he met Amanda KnoxAmerican student who arrived in Perugia thanks to the Erasmus program. The relationship between the two develops quickly: they have been together for just a week when Meredith Kercher’s murder occurs.
THE MURDER OF MEREDITH KERCHER IN PERUGIA
The evening of November 1, 2007 Meredith Kercher21 year old English student who arrived in Perugia with the Erasmus programme, spends the evening with some friends before returning to the house in via della Pergola that he shares with other girls (including Amanda Knox).
The next morning Knox he returns to the apartment with Raffaele Sollecito and notices some anomalies in the houseincluding the door to Meredith’s room being locked. Some friends and the postal police also arrive on site, having already headed to the house after finding Meredith’s cell phones in a nearby garden. After forcing the bedroom door, the student’s body is found lifeless. Meredith was killed with multiple stab wounds.
From the first moments the case attracted enormous media attention, also due to the involvement of young foreign students and some details of the investigation which fuel speculation and controversial reconstructions.
The investigations quickly focus on Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito. In the first phase, Knox accuses the owner of the pub where he worked, Patrick Lumumba, who is however soon cleared.
In the meantime investigators identify biological traces attributable to Rudy Guede, a young Ivorian who knows some kids in the area. Guede fled to Germany, was arrested and subsequently extradited to Italy. In 2008 it arrives for him the final sentence of 16 years in prison for complicity in murder.
THE TRIALS: CONVICTIONS, ABSOLUTEMENTS AND THE FINAL SENTENCE
The legal proceedings linked to the murder of Meredith Kercher it was long and complex. In 2009 Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito they were sentenced at first instance to 26 and 25 years in prison respectively.
In 2011 the Court of Appeal he acquitted them, calling into question some of the scientific evidence used by the prosecution. But in 2013 the Supreme Court annulled that sentence, ordering a new appeal process.
In 2014 a new sentence arrived. It seemed like yet another chapter in a never-ending story, followed daily by the international media. However, in March 2015 the Court of Cassation definitively acquitted Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito “for not having committed the crime”closing one of the most discussed court cases of recent years.
A WORLDWIDE MEDIA CASE
The murder of Meredith Kercher was also one of the first major trials of the global media era. British, American and Italian television followed every phase of the investigations and trials, transforming Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito into figures known throughout the world.
Over the years the case has been told through books, documentaries, films and podcasts. Public opinion remained divided for a long time between the innocent and the guilty, even after the final acquittals.
And this is precisely the theme that resurfaces today in the interview with Beast Crime: the distance between judicial truth and public perception. A wound that, almost twenty years after the events in Perugia, still continues to cause discussion.
WHAT AMANDA KNOX IS DOING TODAY
Amanda Knox has returned to live in the United Statesin her country of origin, trying to rebuild a life away from the judicial clamor that accompanied her for years.
Born in Seattle in 1987, Amanda Knox reached Perugia in 2007 as an Erasmus student. After almost four years spent in prison and trials in Italy, she returned to the US immediately after her acquittal on appeal in 2011.and then deal remotely with the latest judicial developments until the final ruling of the Supreme Court.
In the following years, Knox chose to expose himself publicly by recounting his experiencealso becoming an activist on the issues of justice, judicial errors and the media impact of trials.
Today he works mainly in the world of communication and digital content. He has collaborated with various American newspapers and hosts editorial projects and podcasts dedicated to news and justice stories. In 2021 she married the writer Christopher Robinson, with whom she had two children.
In recent years, Amanda Knox has returned several times to speak publicly about the Meredith Kercher case, explaining how much that event marked his personal and professional life. At the same time he has repeatedly expressed closeness to Meredith Kercher’s family, underlining the pain still linked to a tragedy that continues to remain etched in the collective memory.
