Knox back in court over police violence claims
Knox claimed she was hit twice by a police officer while she was being interrogated over the death of the British student in Perugia.
The 22-year-old was found guilty of killing Ms Kercher with her Italian former boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito in December.
Prosecutors said that what began as an extreme sex game ended with Sollecito holding down the University of Leeds student while Knox cut her throat with a six-inch kitchen knife.
Yesterday Knox made her first public appearance since she was led away in tears moments after the verdict, returning to court with cropped hair.
Yesterday’s brief preliminary hearing in Perugia, held behind closed doors, was largely devoted to technicalities and quickly adjourned.
Ms Kercher, 21, from Coulsdon, Surrey, was found dead in her bedroom in the Umbrian hilltop town on November 2, 2007, in the house she lived in with Knox and others on her year abroad.
During her trial for her housemate’s murder Knox claimed she had been subjected to violent treatment during questioning by Italian police.
Police have denied the misconduct and filed slander charges against her.
But her lawyer, Luciano Ghirga, said any defendant should be granted the right to defend oneself in court without the risk of facing slander accusations.
Giving evidence in June last year Knox, from Seattle, described to the packed courtroom the verbal and physical bullying she claimed she was subjected to during her long interrogation.
She told the court a female police officer hit her twice on the back of her head during questioning – an accusation police denied.
She also said officers threatened her with 30 years in prison if she continued to “lie” about what happened the night Ms Kercher was killed.
Knox was jailed for 26 years while Sollecito was sentenced to 25 years in prison.
Both are appealing and are expected to be back in court in the autumn.
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